Meet Aspen. Seven years old, loves school, her friends, music and reading. Aspen is like any other young girl.. except she’s rare, brave, incredibly resilient and has RRP.

Aspen was diagnosed last year after her normal husky voice started to get more and more strained. RRP is a rare disease where Aspen’s vocal cords are affected by growths, making her voice croaky and breathing strained.

Aspen had her first surgery last November, and will continue to have regular surgery to make sure the growths don’t block her airways and give her as much voice as possible. Unfortunately, there is no cure and surgery is the only option at this stage.

For Rare Disease Day (February 28), Aspen wanted to do a fun fundraiser for Rare Voices Australia, and give some to us for her surgery — bless her.

We promise to always make sure Aspen’s voice is heard, and we can’t wait to hear her roar.

Please add your guess of how many lollies you think are in the jar by adding your ‘words of support’ after donating. The closet guess will get the lollies!

Rare Voices Australia (RVA) is the peak body for Australians living with a rare disease. RVA provides a strong, unified voice to advocate for policy as well as health, disability and other systems that work for people living with a rare disease > https://rarevoices.org.au