The Symes family will always have a missing piece.
After the tragic loss of their son, Vinny, three weeks after he was born in 2021, Ricky and Jodi Symes, along with the other Symes family members, want to help raise funds for other families facing a similar tragedy.
“We still struggle a lot with what happened,” Mr Symes said.
Vinny and his twin, Jasper, were born on November 18, 2021, at the Royal Women’s Hospital. Three days later, Vinny was taken to the Royal Children’s Hospital after they found out about his illness. It wasn’t until his final days that Vinny got to meet the rest of his family, including older sisters Macey and Violet before he passed away in early December.
When facing the worst kind of loss, the family wants to do its part to help out other families.
“Macey wanted to do a fundraiser, and all of her cousins wanted to get involved,” Mr Symes said.
All 10 of Vinny’s siblings and cousins have now been fundraising for two years in his memory, naming themselves Vinny’s Team. They even got T-shirts and hoodies made to make the name official.
The children have been raising donations for the Good Friday Appeal and the Royal Children’s Hospital for the past two years around Benalla.
“The first year [we started fundraising] we just went around all the streets and to our local footy club, the Benalla Saints,” Mr Symes said.
They also hosted ‘Vinny’s Day Dinner’ in March last year, in collaboration with Ride for Wishes when it stopped in Benalla on March 16. The event raised $20,000, and had more than 115 people attending, with the event sold out.
Mr Symes said it was amazing to see how much people, especially his family, cared.
“It’s important for us to remember Vinny,” Mr Symes said.
“He was only 22 days old when he passed, and because of COVID he didn’t get to see his cousins.”
Mr Symes was grateful for all that the Royal Children’s Hospital did for his family, and the help and care it provided.
“We got to experience first-hand how amazing the Royal Children’s Hospital are, even though it’s not where you want to be, you don’t want to be anywhere else,” he said.
“The work they do and the support they give is incredible.”