TORONTO – One young boy and his mom are working hard to make a difference in the lives of children living with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) by founding a charity to raise money.
Five years ago young Robbie Murray and his mother Kate co-founded Robbie’s Rainbow, a charity which raises money for children suffering from Crohn’s Disease and Ulcerative Colitis.
Robbie was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when he was six-years-old and went through years of failed treatments before finding a treatment that works for him.
“I think it’s wonderful that we’re able to help that many people,” said Robbie.
The charity was created after an incident in the hospital one day when Robbie was receiving his treatment.
“One day when we were in the hospital we heard a family that was begging for their child to get treatment but they just didn’t have enough money and that child went home without his treatment and we just thought that was awful. So when we went home we decided to create Robbie’s Rainbow to help children get their treatment,” said Robbie.
All of the money raised goes directly to families of children with IBD to help pay for the expensive treatments that are not covered by OHIP. To date they have raised over $300,000 and helped 127 children.
“Words can’t even express how proud I am of my son, at eight-years-old laying in a hospital bed wanting to put aside how he felt to help somebody else,” said Kate.
Robbie had asked if he could share his medicine with the boy in the room next to him and Kate wanted to do something to help, so they threw together a quick fundraiser for that boy. They ended up raising more money than was needed and then continued doing so by creating Robbie’s Rainbow.
Sarah Richter is the mother of a son living with Crohn’s who has been greatly helped by Robbie’s Rainbow. Her son Aiden was diagnosed at eight-years-old and went through years of drug treatments to the point where drugs were no longer working.
Richter was told that there was an experimental drug that may help her son. The drug is really for arthritis but the doctors believed it would work.
“And as a parent going through that with your son, and you just leap, and then they said ‘well here’s the bill’ and it was $3,000 per treatment. And suddenly your head starts focussing on how are we going to manage this financially because it’s not one treatment, it’s every six to eight weeks,” said Richter.
Richter got in touch with Murray who helped pay for part of the first two treatments. The help gave Richter enough time to figure out how they would pay for the rest of the treatment.
“So Kate and Robbie have my undying gratitude for that, just amazing people,” Richter said.
The Duffers Invitational selected Robbie’s Rainbow as their charity of choice for this year’s annual golf tournament, held at the Carrying Place Golf and Country Club. They were hoping to raise $50,000 through the tournament and ended up being presented with a check for $100,000.
Robbie’s Rainbow raises money through several events and fund raisers. Every year they hold a gala with a different theme, as well as they hold community events.
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