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7NEWS NSW/ACT Young Achiever Of The Year Awards Special Announcement


Thirteen years ago on 24th June, I lost my beautiful sister, Dainere, to childhood brain cancer.

One year later, on what would have been her sixteenth birthday, I founded Dainere’s Rainbow with a promise that her extraordinary life would leave an enduring legacy of hope.

For the past twelve years, that promise has shaped every day by championing awareness, strengthening health literacy, advancing national advocacy, providing compassionate support to children and families, raising vital funds for Australian childhood brain cancer research, and contributing to significant advancements in paediatric palliative care in Canberra, helping strengthen support for children with life-limiting illness and their families.

To have been recognised with the Ministry of Health Achievement in Health Award is a distinction I accept with profound humility and heartfelt gratitude. This recognition is not a culmination, but a reminder that there is still more hope to inspire, greater awareness to create, stronger advocacy to pursue, and more children and families to support.

To have also been entrusted with the extraordinary honour of being named the overall 7NEWS NSW/ACT Young Achiever of the Year is a privilege beyond words. I accept this recognition with profound humility and utmost reverence, deeply conscious of the significance it carries and the trust it represents. I will honour that trust through a lifelong commitment to serving children and families with compassion, integrity and unwavering purpose.

To my fellow finalists, thank you for your inspiring leadership, compassion and selfless service. It was an immense privilege to stand alongside each of you.

My heartfelt appreciation extends to the judging panel, the NSW Government Ministry of Health, 7NEWS, the Young Achiever Awards, and every sponsor and partner for recognising and celebrating leadership, service and community impact.

Above all, this recognition belongs to Dainere. Her inspiring, selfless and compassionate spirit gave me a purpose far greater than myself, and that purpose lives on through Dainere’s Rainbow.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land where we meet and work, the Ngunnawal people, and the many other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from across Australia who have now made Canberra their home. We celebrate and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of the ACT and region.

Dainere's Rainbow is a not for profit organisation - 100% of all funds raised or donated go to childhood brain cancer research at Sydney Children's Hospital
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Sydney Children's Hospital Foundation are proud to display the new Registered Charity Tick from the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), which aims to gives reassurance to the public that the charities they support are transparent and accountable. We rely on your donations and volunteering to ensure we can continue our vital work, so we want you to know your support is making a difference. Where you see the logo, it means the charity is registered with the ACNC so the public can easily find out what they do, who their beneficiaries are, how they are governed and how they manage their finances.