General News
7 November, 2025
Brave Roar for a brave boy
A SPECIAL fundraising event will be held next weekend in honour of a brave young boy’s ongoing big fight with cancer.
The Camperdown Football and Netball Club will host Harlyn’s Brave Roar, which is raising funds to support Harlyn Hurford and his mother Ebony following Harlyn’s diagnosis with neuroblastoma – a type of cancer which affects immature nerve cells.
Event organiser Tori McCann said she was inspired to run the fundraising event alongside her brother-in-law as the Hurfords are family friends.
“At the moment, he’s undergoing a high-dose chemotherapy at the Royal Children’s Hospital,” she said.
“He had a STEM cell transplant – he had a full week of extremely high-dose chemo which was so strong they had to bathe and scrub him four times a day.
“The chemo works to kill the cancer cells, but it also wiped out his good cells such as bone marrow and immune cells.
“Right now, he has no immune system, so the STEM cell transplant was his own which were collected and frozen early in his cancer journey.
“Hopefully he’ll be able to make new blood and immune cells following the transplant.”
Mrs McCann is among many of Ms Hurford’s family and friends who have been supporting the family since Harlyn’s diagnosis, which also includes a GoFundMe which has seen $52,585 raised for the family at time of publication.
“The community is definitely showing their spirit,” Mrs McCann said.
The fundraiser is slated for Saturday, November 15 and will begin at 1pm.
Mrs McCann said live music will be provided by Leslie D King and The Trembling Shakes, with support from Michael Ferguson.
“We’ve got around 30 prizes to be won in raffles, which will be done on the day,” she said.
“We also have a few auctions we will be running throughout the day as well.
“Auction items include an AFL football guernsey signed by players of the Geelong Cats, a signed Vixens netball dress and a mini-family photography shoot.
“There will be some little items for kids to buy if they would like – such as keyrings, croc jibbitz and slap wristbands.
“The support has been amazing from local businesses in Camperdown and Warrnambool.”
Tickets for the Brave Roar are $40 per person, with a raffle ticket included in the entrance cost, with children able to enter for free.
Residents unable to attend the event but still keen to support the Hurford family can donate online at www.gofundme.com/f/support-harlyn-ebony.
Read More: Camperdown