Microcephaly Run 2019

In April 2019 Alex Mlikota, Matthew Rollings and Chris Gordes, will be going on an epic adventure through India. They will be raising money for two charities by doing an event called the “Rickshaw Challenge”. They will be driving a 3 wheeled, 7HP ‘Tuk Tuk’ 3000km’s across the country through some of the worst traffic, rivers and deserts in the world, from Jaidalmer to Cochin. They will only have a map and what they find along the way to help them! They will be given no direction or support on their adventure and are expected to break down daily, with only help from locals that are willing to help.
The main reason for such an adventure is to raise awareness for Microcephaly. In March 2014 Harry Mlikota (Alex's nephew) was diagnosed with microcephaly at birth. Microcephaly is a condition where the head and brain stop developing and as a result the child is born with a significantly smaller head and other numerous health issues. In Harry’s case, they are still unaware of what caused his condition, but he has gone through his short life so far hanging around hospitals and specialists, with many questions still unanswered as this condition is so rare in Australia.
Having to watch Harry's parents find out their healthy baby boy had such a disorder, and go through the highs and lows that no new parents should have to go through, broke their hearts. They have endured copious trips to specialists such as paediatrics, Ear/Nose/Throat, Gastroenterologist, Neurologist and Geneticist to name a few. On top of that, the little superstar has already had 10 surgeries and general anaesthetics, which is more than most people have in their entire lives.

Microcephaly can affect people in different ways. Harry had his first general anaesthetic when he was 10 days old, his first trip to paediatric ICU and surgery on his throat when he was 16 months old, his first feeding PEG put in his stomach when he was 20 months old and then a further surgery to change the PEG to a button 3 months later. He was diagnosed with hearing loss at 6 weeks old and has been wearing hearing aids since then, until a recent surgery helped his hearing. He has been considered “Failure To Thrive” his entire life, with admissions to the local hospital when he fell ill and lost too much weight. He has had his eyes operated on and still wears glasses and an eye patch for 4 hours every day. When he had an endoscopy to put the feeding tube in, they diagnosed him with Eosinophilic Oesophagitis (EoE for short) which means that he can no longer have the small amount of dairy and egg he was having and he has to have 2 different types of medication every day. He is intellectually and developmentally delayed, which affects his learning and communication and means that he will have to repeat Kindy next year.

We want to raise money for the Brain and Neurosciences Department at Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for the amazing work that they do to help sick kids and their families and to help fund more research. There is currently no Microcephaly Foundation in Australia, only overseas, so we need to create some more awareness around this condition because Alex, Matthew and Chris want there to be unlimited moral and financial support for family’s going through the same unanswered questions when their newborn arrives.
Now unfortunately Harry won’t be joining us on our journey as he failed his motorbike licence last Friday, but he will be with us in spirit!
Any donations are greatly appreciated! We will be donating the first $500 to a charity called “cool Earth”, which has been organised by the founders of the “Rickshaw Challenge” and has been agreed upon by each team that enters the challenge. 100% of the donations will be given to the organisations, although Alex, Matthew and Chris would love to buy an oversized novelty cheque to hand to Lady Cilento Hospital upon returning from this great trip!


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