Mabel Olive Airi Foundation Dinner & Auction
Event description
Join us for a wonderful evening to raise funds for a very important cause.
Ticket price includes:
- 3 course dinner
- 4 hours of wine and beer with Mabel cocktail on arrival
- Special guest speakers, Dr Michaela Waak, Paediatric Neurointensivist at Queensland Children's Hospital; and Dr Ruth Knight, Senior Researcher at QUT's Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies
- Auction with amazing prizes from our very generous supporters (including five-star getaways, theme park tickets, theatre tickets, gourmet dinners, vouchers for luxury experiences and many more incredible prizes)
- Live music and art performances.
All proceeds will be used to raise awareness of pneumococcal disease and meningitis and to fund further research into early diagnostic tools.
6.30pm arrival for 7.00pm start.
What are we fundraising for?
In September, we very suddenly lost our wonderful baby girl, Mabel, to pneumococcal meningitis. She was fully vaccinated and just 6.5 months old. One day she was happy and well, the next we were in hospital, the following day in the PICU. Despite getting Mabel to hospital quickly, she was misdiagnosed and devastatingly, it was too late by the time any doctor realised how serious things were. We spent a week in the PICU before she passed away in our arms in the early hours of the 22nd.
To try to find a way to live with my grief, and to honour our daughter, I started a foundation in her name (Mabel Olive Airi Foundation) to raise awareness of this disease. I feel that if I had known that the childhood vaccination schedule does not cover all strains of pneumococcus; or had known the signs and symptoms of pneumococcal disease, then maybe I would have been able to advocate for my daughter, and she could be here with us today. We are doing everything we can to raise awareness with parents and clinicians; as well as working with the Meningitis Centre Australia to further raise awareness in the wider community.
If you would like to read more about the foundation and Mabel's story, you can go to the website www.mabeloliveairi.org