Our nephew Xavier died on 21 July 2026. He was 17.

Xavier had Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. But if you knew him, that isn't the first thing you'd tell anyone about him.

You'd tell them he was a North Melbourne man. Completely, loudly, through every kind of season. You'd tell them he followed the AFLW just as closely as the men's, and that Bella Eddey was his number 1. You'd tell them about Anzac Day Eve in 2018, when he got to run out with the Richmond Tigers onto the MCG, and how that one night made the Tigers his second side for life... a betrayal we think North Melbourne will forgive him for.

You'd tell them he was very hard to beat on the Switch, and that he knew it, and that he'd let you know it.

Xavier was funny. And he was cheeky. And he was clever. And despite everything he went through, he knew how to have a good laugh. Duchenne took a great deal from Xavier but it couldn’t take that.

His parents, Briony and Peter, and sibilings, Jorja and Aiden, have been doing the hardest thing a family can do, for a very long time. Many of you have watched them do it.

Now they're facing the worst part of it, and we'd like them to get through it without also having to think about what it costs.

That's all this is. Whatever is raised will go straight to where it needs to go, so that they can spend the next little while thinking about Xavier and nothing else.

If you can give, thank you. If you can't, please share this link as that helps just as much.

And if you have a story about him, leave it in the comments. Maybe not today, but there'll come a day when they'll want to read every one of them.

Much love,

Aunty Liz & Aunty Dani (on behalf of Briony, Peter, Jorja and Aiden)