With two healthy children, Carmel van Diemen can only imagine what it would be like to lose a child to cancer.
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But for many Australians, this is a reality each year.
And so once again Carmel and her husband Bill will take part in the Camp Quality esCarpade.
The 2018 event will be the fifth time Bill has taken part and the third for Carmel.
Bill first became involved after he heard the story of a young man who had died of cancer in a newspaper article. The esCarpade was mentioned in the story, and Bill thought it would be a great way to put it to use.
“It’s a wonderful organisation [Camp Quality] and a great thing to raise money for,” he said.
“When you have two healthy children you think ‘how does somebody deal with that?’,” Carmel said.
Bill and Carmel will be car number 99 this year, and they will turn plenty of heads with their Shrek-themed car and costumes.
This year’s esCarpade will start from Bathurst, head up to Lightning Ridge and finish at Wagga Wagga.
Teams will stop in about 18 towns along the way to educate children about cancer.
Camp Quality esCarpade event manager Cara Woods said puppets named Dean and Kylie were used in the primary school education program.
“At Camp Quality we’re looking at changing people’s mindset. We don’t want cancer to be that scary thing. If we can get to as many kids as we can that’s great,” she said.
Ms Woods said they often when into schools when children were returning from treatment to help make the transition easier, as they could often be bullied for looking different or missing school.
“We dispel a lot of the myths,” she said.
Over the past few years, Mittagong RSL has supported Bill and once again it stepped up to the plate in 2018, recently handing over a donation of $2500.
Teams need to raise $5000 in order to be able to take part in the esCarpade.
Mittagong RSL senior vice president Roger Cole said it was a worthwhile cause the club was happy to support.
“It’s always been the club’s priority to look after the local community,” he said.
“There are local families who utilise the services of Camp Quality and the work Camp Quality do for children is an extremely precious thing.”
Not only does the ride help raise money for Camp Quality, but it helps boost the economies of the regional towns the esCarpade travels through.
Teams pay for their own food and petrol, and Carmel said it would cost them about $3000 to take part in the event.
“[Camp Quality services] are something families should be given access to. We’re happy to continue to support Bill and Carmel.”
The van Diemen’s will also be holding a trivia night fundraiser at Mittagong RSL on August 4.
Tickets will cost $20 a head, with teams of 10. Contact the RSL to purchase tickets.
Online donations can also be made at https://fundraise.campquality.org.au/fundraiser/car99Shrek
