What an amazing guy

pjfan31

My heart broke for the captain of my favourite team last year, and he carries himself with distinction... So hard for him...

Swans co-captain Jarrad McVeigh hopes this weekend’s game against North Melbourne for the inaugural HeartKids Cup will raise awareness for children suffering from heart disease and their families.

McVeigh, who sadly lost his baby daughter Luella to heart complications last year, has teamed up with North Melbourne legend Glenn Archer as ambassadors for the HeartKids cause.

“This weekend’s game we’re playing for the HeartKids Cup,” McVeigh said this morning.

“It’s a great initiative by both teams through Glenn Archer at North Melbourne and myself at the Sydney Swans and this cause is something very close to our hearts and we want to raise awareness for.

“Six babies a day are born with heart disease, so we want to get (the cause) out there and support the families of the children throughout those difficult times.”

McVeigh said the HeartKids Cup will be an important opportunity for affected families to commemorate and raise awareness for victims of the common childhood disease.

“I’m proud of my little girl and my family have had a lot of support over the time,” McVeigh said.

“To have a special day and to be playing for something (like this) is something I’m going to hold dear to me.

“I think it’s a commemoration for a lot of people. A lot of families go through tough times with all sorts of diseases.

“For me personally, I do think a lot about it and to raise awareness for a lot of families and to help them with a combination of things will be a good thing.”

Childhood heart disease, or CHD, is Australia’s most common birth abnormality, which affects one in 100 children.

CHD is also the greatest killer of children under one in Australia, and around 250 children die of CHD each year.

HeartKids NSW State Manager David Rose said the support of McVeigh and Archer as ambassadors of the cause will help raise the profile of the charity.

“This partnership with the Sydney Swans and North Melbourne is so critical for us because it will help raise our profile through awareness and will put the voice of two really well known and respected guys in Glenn and Jarrad at the forefront of telling people about childhood heart disease,” he told sydneyswans.com.au.

“It’s a really big issue in the community and it’s vital that we get the word out there.

“We’ve got two guys in Glenn and Jarrad who are intimately connected with childhood heart disease and we’ve had the nod from both the teams that this is something they’d like to do every year.”

The cause is likely to attract plenty of awareness at this Sunday’s match, which is shaping up to be a tough contest between two in form sides.

“We’ve got to focus on the game this week against a really quality team and that’s what we’ll be going today, we’ll be training well and preparing well,” McVeigh said.

“All of their stars are up and playing well, like Wells and Harvey, and Ziebell coming through and kicking four goals, and Bastinac as well, so we do respect them a lot.

“We played them in the pre-season and had a good tussle with them then and hopefully we can put in a good performance again.”

McVeigh said the loss of co-captain Adam Goodes to suspension is disappointing, but was confident the Swans had the depth to cover his loss.

“(Goodes) is obviously one of our best players and we need him out there, but in saying that we’ll have someone who is ready to step up and we do have a lot of depth this year,” he said.

“We are playing against a team who are in really good form and had a really good win on the weekend and we’re going to need a lot of midfield depth this weekend, so I think that’s where the game will be won.

“I’m sure for him it will just be another game and he wants to win as much as we do, so I don’t think (Goodes’ suspension) will have too much impact on the group.”

Austicman

Absolute champion.

I remember the game the weekend after his daughter died. Very emotional.

pjfan31

I don't think there was a dry eye from any stakeholder of the Swans and many throughout the AFL...

And to think the little ol' Swans went down to the cattery where they hadn't one for ages and beat the best team of the modern era...

And seeing Mark after the Bombers win was touching too...

Carey

What a great cause. Thanks for sharing!

dimitrispearljam

awesome!!

pjfan31

Carey wrote:

What a great cause. Thanks for sharing!

Pleasure and Go the Swans...