Suzanne turns her grief into positive action

Baby Stella has left an amazing legacy.

Her mum, Suzanne Tunks, has set up a foundation in honour of the beautiful girl who battled chronic illness all of her short life.

Turning her grief into action, Suzanne founded the Stella Bella Little Stars Foundation in 2012.

The foundation aims to brighten the lives of children battling serious and long-term illness.

It also offers practical support to families, through food and petrol vouchers, emergency accommodation and respite care.

Suzanne is the manager and main driver for the foundation and she is always looking for new ways to support parents.

One of the newest initiatives is the Stella Bella Children’s Centre, which opened in 2017 and has a section for chronically ill children. The foundation helps fund a specialist nurse and a qualified childcare team who look after the children while their parents take a much-needed break.

Families often lose at least one income as parents become fulltime carers for their child. This can cause a financial burden that adds to their worries about a sick child.

“A lot of those families don’t have any money because they have children in hospital all of the time,” says Suzanne.

The children are given a boost through events such as a camp and movie nights, or the Little Star Beads program where they receive a special bead as a reward each time they undergo a medical procedure.

The beads are then strung together as a symbol of their courage.

Suzanne feels humbled to be voted a Westfield Local Hero but says her team members deserve all of the accolades.

The foundation will use its $10,000 Westfield grant to fund stress-relieving yoga classes for parents and childcare by a paediatric nurse for their children.

“I have really seen a need for the parents to have some more support and I’ve been trying to get this program off the ground for a while,” says Suzanne.

For further information on the Westfield Local Heroes program, click here.