Teens lead life saving fundraiser
FIRST ON 7: Youngsters who end up in Sydney Children's Hospital at Randwick now have access to vital medical equipment thanks to two determined 13-year-olds.
The pair led a fundraising campaign for a scanning machine, which doctors say will now save young lives.
The positron emission tomography machine produces 3D images that help doctors tailor treatments for every patient.
"It gives off a positron which annihilates within an electron [and] two gamma rays are produced,"
Chief Physicist Bruce Mcbride said.
But when Cambell, and fellow cancer survivor, Jade Bell, were fighting their diseases Sydney Children's Hospital did not have one.
They had to use the machine at Westmead, but not all kids with cancer could, according to nuclear medicine physician Dr Eva Wegner.
"They are not able to travel across town, it's unsafe for them [so] many kids missed out on this technology," Dr Wegner said.
Cambell decided to raise funds, while Jayde raised awareness.
It's not the first machine of its type in New South Wales, but it is the newest.
And it’s all thanks in large part to the efforts of a couple of courageous kids, whose battles and achievements have been an inspiration for themselves.
Having already helped, they want to help some more, with Cambell McMaster announcing he might just become a doctor, while Jayde wants to specialise.
"Oncology is close to me because of obviously what I’ve been through," Jayde said.
And they have made their parents extremely proud.
“Two kids who decided to step up, and knowing they weren't going to change the world, but they did make a big difference,” Jayde’s dad Noel Purcell said.
