There is a little tournament going on, after all, and I’m off to Cardiff on Saturday to support our beloved ‘men in black’ as the All Blacks play France in the Quarter Finals.
But right now I want to talk about rugby AND helping heal children who are sick. Two passions close to my heart.
Click on this link to see a video of three of our greatest All Blacks singing God Defend NZ, with some unknown Kiwi entertainer bloke, and we raised $65,000 on the night!
Why? Because on Monday Sim and I went to NZ House in London for the UK launch of an important project: the mighty All Blacks are on a path to attempt the ultimate goal in rugby while **Cure Kids (the All Blacks official charity) are on the path to helping achieve a world first, finding a cure for Batten Disease.
Batten disease is a rare inherited disorder of the nervous system that usually presents in early childhood. Symptoms can be likened to epilepsy, Parkinsons, Alzheimers, blindness and cause premature death.
http://www.kiwiscurebatten.com/
Giant leaps have been made thanks to recent research in NZ funded by Cure Kids. $1million will help their researchers continue their work to find the cure. Through the love of our national game and the power of music, the #kiwiscurebatten project – a song inspired and almost written by kids, called Team Ball Player Thing, performed by famous Kiwis living in NZ – aims to inspire the All Blacks and create a world without Batten Disease.
So on Monday night in London we sang our hearts out to this catchy song as we donated from our hearts to help the amazing team at Cure Kids in their mission.
But I couldn’t let a NZ function go by without instigating some more national pride with a sing-along of our national anthem. My 15 years with Incognito Artists means I have a bit of experience whipping up a crowd, and it’s one of the best parts of the job. But I didn’t do it alone. Oh no. With a little help from my friends – aka All Black legends Andrew Mehrtens, Ali Williams and Anton Oliver and our NZ High Commissioner Sir Lockwood Smith – we raised the roof in one of London’s tallest buildings. And I helped to ensure that the efforts of these world class singers were sponsored by generous benefactors in the audience, to help raise more funds.
You don’t have to be a Kiwi to enjoy this song (but I know, it helps). Get the song on iTunes and make a difference.
P.S. Go All Blacks – see you on Saturday!
Proud to be kiwi,
Geoff
**About Cure Kids:
At Cure Kids, their purpose is simple: every single day, their researchers are driven to find the cures for serious health conditions that affect many of our children. They focus on raising funds so that vital medical research can continue until their researchers find the cures our kids need. Put simply, they fund the cures, they find the cures. Approximately one child in 30 is affected by a genetic malformation; that’s an average of roughly one in every classroom. Cure Kids is searching for cures for, among others, childhood leukaemia and other cancers, heart diseases, cystic fibrosis, Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SUDI), Type 1 diabetes and asthma. These conditions and diseases mean children miss out on a normal childhood, and have to learn far too early in life how to fight to survive.
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