Grace Manson was born 14th April 2005 with Trisomy 21 (better know as Down syndrome).

Grace is the youngest of 4 children to Grant and Naomi. She has 3 older siblings, sisters Lavinia (28), Isabella (23) and brother Patrick (22).


She currently attends Ferny Creek Primary School and is finishing her final year of primary school, year 6, where she will graduate. 

Although Grace has enjoyed a beautiful life with her family it has been challenging and life has not dealt her the best hand.

In February of 2012, when Grace was just 6 years old (turning 7) she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) which she battled for 5 years through the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne. She beat that terrible disease and after receiving the magical “cured” word, she was discharged from the RCH's Cancer Clinic in the early months of 2019.

Unfortunately, on October 30th of this year Grace received the worst news that the Leukaemia had returned but this time it is a different type of ALL which seems to be more aggressive and fast acting. Grace is now back to battle the cancer for a second time in her very short life. Graces’ chances of beating Leukaemia for a second time around will be challenging and the odds are against her.


She is facing long stays in hospital, many treatments and daily chemotherapy to try and overcome it again.

She has an amazing family support network to get her through this and fight it together. 

This is a massive challenge however, and this will take a toll emotionally and financially for all immediate family members that also fight this battle side-by-side with Grace.

Any donation, no matter how small, can help the family with day to day things like parking at the Royal Children’s, petrol to and from hospital and any sick leave/annual leave that the the family may run out of during this difficult and uncertain time. This will also help Grace immensely as the family are struggling to access the NDIS funding assigned to Grace with day to day essential things like pull-ups and a new wheelchair whilst she receives treatment. The family hope to have things in place that can help set her up for anything she may need after stage one treatment.

As a friend of the family my wish to Gracie is that when there is a time that she is able to leave the hospital, she can travel to wherever her heart desires with her family without the pressures of every day life. Should they be able to travel, they will spend quality time with Grace while creating memories that will last a lifetime. 

Thank-you for your support,

Simone