Truckie’s heart of gold: Charity efforts for little battler

Hard times have fallen on Koby Green, who was diagnosed with Lymphoma a month ago, just after her ninth birthday, and one truckie has stepped up to help ease the burden.

 

Long-time truckie Royce Norton has been involved with fundraising in the past, and when his friends Kelly and Matt told him of their daughter’s cancer diagnosis, he put the call out to the industry.

“Kelly is such a beautiful person and she’s got enough on her plate without having to worry about the financial side,” Royce said. 

“We want her to be able to be by her daughter’s side and every dollar is going to help.”

In just a few weeks, upwards of $20,000 has been raised via a GoFundMe campaign and nearly $10,000 in prizes for a raffle have been donated, to help ease the financial burden for the family and allow Kelly to spend the next six months with Koby throughout her treatment.

 Kelly spoke to Owner//Driver, telling of Koby’s immense bravery through her initial rounds of treatment.

“She’s amazing, she’s so strong and she just doesn’t complain,” Kelly said.

“Even the doctors are amazed by her and she continually tells them she’s fine.

“She keeps me strong; I can’t break when she’s not breaking.”

Koby’s two identical sisters, Misty and Kyra, have remained strong and the identical triplets are as close as sisters could be, finishing each other’s sentences and sharing the pain.

“They finish each other’s sentences and if one of them hurts themselves quite often the other one will feel it,” she said.

“It’s very tough on them but the other two have bonded a lot through all this, they’ve become so close.

“Koby from when she was born has had everything thrown at her. She was 1.3 pounds and spent the first months of her life in hospital.

“She always seems to get the raw end of the deal. She’s the fighter though, she’s the strong one. Out of all three of them she’ll handle it.”

Kelly says they’re taking each day at a time, and while Koby has her good and bad days, she’s a true battler and she’s taking the fight to the cancer.

“Her treatment is going well and the doctors are happy with how it’s progressing.

“She’s basically had two blocks of treatment and has another two, then they’ll do all the scans and re-evaluate from there what happens next.

“We just don’t know at this stage, but the tumour was originally 14.5cm in diameter and they did do a scan of it about two weeks ago and it has shrunk by nearly half.

“She’s a fighter.”

The GoFundMe campaign was setup by Kelly’s friend Sally Pick, and the support it’s received has shown the family just how much people care.

“You just realise how amazing people are, how amazing your friends are,” Kelly said.

To enter the raffle contact Royce Norton on 0427 714 171 and if you’d like to contribute to the GoFundMe campaign click here. 

Send this to a friend