Fremantle hit a hurdle on Saturday against Greater Western Sydney, but if they need any motivation for their clash with Sydney on Thursday night they can just look to young Paige McKay’s courageous story.
While the Dockers will wear special Starlight socks for the match, the true highlight of the night will be seen during the warm-up.
The players will run out onto Optus Stadium wearing a custom-designed Starlight T-shirt created by seven-year-old Paige.
Paige’s journey — which began with a loss of fine motor skills in her right hand — has been nothing short of harrowing.
Soon after, her right leg became weak, she struggled to play sport, and she began suffering from morning sickness.
After multiple hospital visits, an urgent MRI revealed a Pilocytic Astrocytoma — a brain tumour that was impacting one of her ventricles and causing a dangerous fluid build up.
What followed was a whirlwind of emergency brain surgeries, shunts, a port insertion, and chemotherapy.
Tragically, the tumour began growing at an exponential rate, crushing both ventricles and forcing doctors to rush Paige into a third emergency brain surgery.
But thankfully, after being placed on a new trial medication alongside ongoing occupational, physio, and speech therapy, Paige’s condition has stabilised and the tumour has reduced in size.
Through the darkest of times, the McKay family found their guiding light in the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
“We love Starlight. Starlight is what gets us through this entire medical journey,” Ms McKay, said.
“To imagine not having the Starlight opportunities here, what a horrible experience that would have been to see.”
Thursday’s top-of-the-table clash against Sydney will be the Dockers 24th annual Starlight Purple Haze Game, a cherished fixture on the Fremantle calendar that aims to raise vital funds to brighten the lives of seriously ill children.
Since its inception in 2003, the special event has raised more than $3.6 million for the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
This year fans can make a pledge of any dollar amount for each goal Fremantle kicks during the game.
South32 will match pledges up to $100,000, effectively doubling each donation.
Starlight wands and beanies will be for sale at the ground, with all proceeds supporting the foundation.
For Paige, the inspiration behind her winning T-shirt design started simply.
“I drew the stars, I just started by drawing a line and another line and then it was a star,” Paige said. “But my favourite part is the rocket ship.”
The initiative has forged a lifelong bond between the young survivor and her sporting heroes.
“I like watching football,” Paige said. “I’ve been at the actual stadium before, watching the actual game and that was really fun. I want to be a girl Docker one day.”
Her mum has also jumped on the purple army bandwagon.
“We’re definitely Dockers fans now,” Ms McKay said. “Before, life got in the way of sport, but now we make more of an effort.
“It’s completely different when you actually meet the players and see them take a bit more of a personal interest in your child. She gets so excited, so happy, especially for the (AFLW) girls.
“Seeing her this happy today with the Freo players is absolutely priceless. She just wants to play and love everybody.”
Dockers midfielder Caleb Serong said the interactions with the Starlight children has a profound impact on the players.
“It’s incredibly powerful coming and just seeing how much a small interaction can just mean so much to these kids,” Serong said.
“We get so much out of it selfishly, because you feel so great, you can have an impact on someone else, but also just seeing what it does for them, that’s amazing.
“You get to make such an incredible impact on people, you walk out so energised and enthused, it just puts everything in perspective, and makes you look at things a little bit different.”
With a massive crowd expected at Optus Stadium on Thursday, Serong believes the Starlight effect could turn the event into a record-breaking moment.
“As soon as I found out it was going to be Sydney, I had a fair inkling it was going to be a big game,” he said. “I think we might break the attendance record so it’s exciting.
“I‘m so grateful that we get such a big stage for it, and it creates so much awareness for Starlight, because they deserve it.”
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