Perth align with Project Y to raise awareness for rare diseases

In 2020, Perth Football Club will be strengthening their commitment to local communities through a series of aligned partnerships that drive their newly developed purpose of ‘Together, we are better.’

In light of this, Perth Football Club is excited to announce the first of these partnerships; Project Y, the Undiagnosed Disease Program. Led by Clinical Geneticist, Dr Gareth Baynam, Project Y brings together clinical and research experts from Australia and around the world to solve the most challenging medical mysteries in children.

“Through sport, we are united by hopes, dreams, stories and the desire to live the best lives possible. We are united through connections with others. We are united by shared efforts and experience that changes lives by providing meaning, inspiration, achievement, solidarity, that lighten all our loads, and deliver a sense of community.  When people come together on a shared quest, amazing things can happen,” long-time Perth Football Club fan Gareth said.

 “63,000 children are living with a rare disease in WA. This is because whilst the individual conditions are rare, there are many different rare diseases. Typically, these children have severe and complex conditions, many struggle to get an answer for the cause of their condition (a diagnosis), and for many there is not a specific treatment. However, for all of these children together we can continue to push towards new frontiers and improve how we care. Together, we can be better for them. Together we can share a quest to help children and families living with rare diseases to live the best lives possible.”

A key focus of Project Y is the Lyfe Languages program. This UNESCO endorsed project raises awareness for an initiative to improve health care for Aboriginal children with rare diseases.

Yarlalu Thomas, 2020 WA Young Australian of the year and a Nyangumarta Pitjikarli man from the North West of WA, works extensively on this program in remote Aboriginal communities.

Perth Football Club was introduced to Project Y through our work with Anthologie, the creative agency behind our new look and feel. They have worked closely with Project Y to raise much-needed funding and awareness over the past few years.

“When the Perth Football Club heard about the amazing work that Gareth, Yarlalu and everyone involved at Project Y are doing, we saw an opportunity to be involved. Through this partnership, the Club will help generate conversation and raise awareness, doing our part to help the children living with a rare or undiagnosed disease,” says Mel Newcombe, Perth Football Club Marketing and Communications Manager.

When Perth host Subiaco in Round 7 of the 2020 Optus WAFL Season, the round will be officially been named the Project Y Round in support of this incredible cause.

If you would like to learn more about Project Y and how you can get involved in raising awareness, visit projectyudp.com.