Elvie Dunwoodie's father takes on the challenge of walking for 24 hours straight because he knows it's something his daughter will never have the chance to do.
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Each year Tom Dunwoodie participates in Relay For Life, a community fundraising challenge inspired by colorectal surgeon, Dr Gordy Klatt, who spent a gruelling 24 hours circulating a track in Washington and raised more than US$27,000 for cancer.
Elvie's mother Alexandra Dunwoodie said this was the fourth year her husband had participated in the Relay.
"He just remembers when he walks around that Elvie will never get to do this," she said.
Elvie's parents noticed that at 12 months old their daughter was not crawling on all fours or showing signs of walking. By 20 months of age, Elvie was diagnosed with Hemiplegia, a form of Cerebral Palsy, and at a routine MRI on December 10, 2014, a tumour was found in her brain stem.
Just 19 days later, Dr Charlie Teo removed approximately 20 per cent of the tumour in a partially successful surgery. However, the surgery left Elvie in intensive care for more than two weeks.
She lost movement in her right arm and developed serious problems with her head strength. Her swallow reflex was also compromised which meant she had to be fed via a feeding tube.
The surgery revealed Elvie had a polimyxoid astrocytoma, a majorly unknown and unpredictable type of tumour.
In January of the following year, Elvie began a rigorous radiotherapy treatment that involved daily general anesthetic for 30 sessions.
Since then Elvie's MRIs have showed no change in the tumour which has been positive news for her family with no further treatments currently available.
"We're very grateful to be in a position of stability and we're just kind of cruising along and doing the best we can with what we've got," Ms Dunwoodie said.
With no family living close by in Goulburn, Ms Dunwoodie said they had established a "really good support network" within the community.
"It's just really a friend support network in town that we use to keep afloat," she said.
It was that support network that started the Relay For Life tradition for the family when Elvie's preschool put together the first "Team Elvie" shortly after she had returned home from a round of treatment.
"We weren't really a presence in that first year," Ms Dunwoodie said.
However, since then Elvie's father has been walking the full 24 hours each year with his best friend, Rob Scott, in what his wife described as an "intense" day.
Typically, multiple participants take turns walking during the 24-hour-relay with the Cancer Council officially recommending 10 to 15 people per team.
"I think the last time he walked ... he walked 108 kilometers which is pretty close to the distance from here to where my parents live in Camden," Ms Dunwoodie said.
"And that's a little bit crazy."
Elvie is hoping to make a guest appearance at this year's Relay For Life, weather permitting.
"Our desire is to get her in her walker and walking around but otherwise she'll just have to be in her chair and someone will just push her around," Ms Dunwoodie said.
This year's Relay For Life will take place at Cookbundoon for the first time since it began in Goulburn 20 years ago, it was previously held at Eastgrove.
Ms Dunwoodie said "Team Elvie" would be running raffles on the day which had been supported by local businesses. There will also be local schools and musicians around the field on the day.
You can support "Team Elvie" through the Cancer Council website.
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