ONE of the most difficult challenges a family can face is helping their child fight cancer.

Australia has one of the highest incidences of childhood cancer in the world, with more than 500 children under the age of 14 diagnosed with cancer each year.

With that comes the significant financial and psychological burden that affects the child’s immediate and extended family.

And while cancer can strike at any time, it is particularly traumatic when young children are impacted by the disease.

For Port Adelaide captain Travis Boak, the impact cancer can have on the family is a burden he knows first-hand, having lost his father to the disease before being drafted to the Power.

It was part of his motivation for becoming an ambassador for the Childhood Cancer Association back in 2010, where he volunteers his spare time with young cancer suffers and their families while they stay in Adelaide.

For him, volunteering as an ambassador with the CCA gives him a chance to support children working through a traumatic period at such an early stage of life.

“The biggest thing is trying to help support the kids going through cancer treatment, and their families as well,” says Boak.

“It’s really difficult for the kid who’s going through cancer – I really don’t know how they do it, they’re so strong – but it affects so many other people as well, not just the child going through it.

“That’s where the CCA has been so good, they not only support the child, but have siblings’ days, they have grandparents’ days, where they help the family come and be part of the support network they provide.

“That’s where I try to come in and try and lend my support to try and take the family away from what is a terrible situation - a cancer in the family – and talk to them, talk footy and try and put a smile on their faces.”

While Boak’s ambassadorship has remained low-key for much of the last five years, his example has encouraged Port Adelaide to forge a stronger community partnership with the CCA.

The Childhood Cancer Association receives no government funding, so relies on funds and awareness raising within the broader community to aid families from as far as Darwin, South Australia’s west coast, Broken Hill, Mildura and Mount Gambier to travel to Adelaide for treatment at the nearby Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Seeing the first-hand the impact cancer can have on a family puts Boak’s profession – football – into sharp relief, but he knows the value he, as an AFL captain, can have working with community not-for-profits.

“The club’s been really good to support me in doing that for the last few years and come on board as a community partner for CCA this year and take that to a new level,” Boak says.

“Organisations like Childhood Cancer benefit most from raising awareness about what it is they do, they don’t get any government support, so they need to get community support.

“They were our charity sponsor last week and it was great to see so many people come out and offer their support on the day, it all goes towards the CCA helping run their programs.

“Footy is just a game and there are so many other things that happen in life, but we’re fortunate in our positions that footy can actually give back and help the community.

“Footy has always been good for that."

$10k goes a long way

In 2015, Port Adelaide and its membership partner RAA offered up $10,000 for a lucky fan in the crowd each time the attendance figure exceeded 50,000.

For the Showdown, which doubled as a tribute to its late former assistant-turned-Crows coach Phil Walsh, the club decided to turn the giveaway into a charitable donation in line with the 'memorial' nature of the match.

The RAA agreed, at the club's request, to instead direct its prize money to the Childhood Cancer Association, with Sunday’s record AFL attendance of 54,468 hitting the level required to trigger the $10,000 reward.

That money will have a significant impact at the CCA’s North Adelaide base, where it will be able to resource important home stay facilities for a year.

With many patients travelling to Adelaide from remote and regional centres, the costs of accommodation can, quite literally, break the bank.

Part of the CCA’s service is to provide accommodation to treatment families free-of-charge.

Port Adelaide supporters at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday. For the crowd figure exceeding 50,000, Port Adelaide has channelled the RAA's membership prizemoney to the Childhood Cancer Association as a donation [pic: AFL Media]

Childhood Cancer Association chief executive Cath O’Loughlin says it one small service her organisation provides, but one of its most important.

“We provide accommodation to families who relocate from the country to Adelaide for their child’s treatment through four units we have in Prospect, just outside of Adelaide,” she says.

“The centre of their universe is where the treatment facilities are, which for families in the Northern Territory or remote areas like Broken Hill and Mildura, is at the Women’s and Children’s – the distance has a major impact on the family relocating.”

The donation is enough to fund one year of facilitating a family in Adelaide, including covering the maintenance, overheads and providing the essentials of a normal home in a self-contained unit near their treatment centre.

“Many families who come to Adelaide have nowhere to go when they arrive, but we provide year-round accommodation free,”

“Essentially we’re providing a home away from home.”

The Childhood Cancer Association is a community partner of the Port Adelaide Football Club.