Cattle auction proceeds to help leukemia foundation
Posted
It is not unusual for a 600 kilogram steer to be sold at Australia's biggest cattle yards, but an auction at Roma in Queensland's southern inland this morning will hold special significance.
The beast will be put on the block to raise money for the Leukemia Foundation of Queensland.
Its an initiative of the Rowbotham family - cattle producers in the state's southern inland.
They had to relocate to Brisbane for eight months while their daughter Anna underwent chemotherapy three years ago.
"Thank goodness for the Leukaemia Foundation," Anna's mother Sue Rowbotham said.
"We were able to get into a unit free of charge, so we had somewhere to stay while Anna was undergoing treatment.
"There was a community car that we could use when we were able to go out.
"It was just good to have that base, and it was just across the road from the Mater Hospital so if Anna became ill we just walked across and the doctors were there."
Regional fundraising coordinator Phoebe Mitchell says the foundation provides a lifeline for many rural families facing the same situation.
"If someone is given a diagnosis of leukaemia they are given 24 hours to be in Brisbane, and that means the uprooting of entire families," she said.
Mrs Rowbotham says Anna's immune system has returned to normal, and while she still has check-ups in Brisbane she is living life to the fullest.
Anna is attending this morning's auction before heading off to school.
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