Source: QUEENSLAND HEALTH WEBSITE ARTICLE, QUEENSLAND GOVERNMENT, Published: FEB-2020
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For Princess Alexandra Hospital Doctor, Amy Illidge, life is all about moments.

As a mother of five commencing her second year as a doctor all while running a new charity, you can understand why.

“Just one moment each day of hope and happiness is enough to keep you motivated."

“I’ve learned it’s okay to be tired in order to get what you want out of this life,” she said.

While working as a Radiation Therapist, Amy was accepted into medical school with five kids under the age of seven at home.

“I loved working in the allied health profession of Radiation Therapy, but I just wanted more so why not embrace it?”

In the midst of beginning her medical career, Amy and her husband began their charity Fight4Balance in 2018.

The concept was inspired by their eldest son, Jacob, who was born with mild to moderate disability and struggles to find his place in the community.

“Jacob looks like a regular 13-year-old boy and has a high emotional intelligence yet suffers intellectual impairment, mild cerebral palsy and epilepsy among other things that make it really hard for him to connect and find success in his life,” she said.

Fight4Balance represents both the fight for these children to fit into society, and the fight of the families to stay together and support each other through it all.

“It is important to us to create a community for people like Jacob so they can access health professionals and other kids from mainstream schools just to do normal activities like boxing or going to the gym.”

“My husband struggled to connect with Jacob in the same way as our other sons but now they can go to the gym together and share special moments where they couldn’t before because Jacob feels he is having success, he is thriving,” she said.

Fight4Balance runs programs based in the community with the support of physios and other health professionals to provide tailored experiences for kids with mild to moderate disabilities.

The success of these programs relies on the buddy system with children from schools such as St Laurence’s School, Gregory Terrace and Loretto volunteering their weekends to spend time with these kids.

“We find that our ‘mainstream’ kids actually benefit a lot from the program, learning how to set their boundaries, manage different behaviours and also be more patient.”

With the charity still in its infancy, there is no sign of waning motivation from Amy or her family.

“I think sometimes we can forget that we are in charge of our destiny, of our own happiness - it just takes work,” she said.

Thank you Amy for going above and beyond in caring for Queenslanders in both your roles (Queensland Government, 03/03/2020).