True show of brotherly love
William is making the world brighter for his little sibling Henry
A Townsville youngster who can lay claim to being one of the best big brothers around has opened up on the positive strides his little brother has taken since being diagnosed with a rare genetic condition.
William Dray was just eightyears-old when he made headlines in 2021 for his plan to sell his own drawings of superheroes and other colourful characters in order to raise funds and awareness for his brother’s illness.
William’s brother, Henry, lives with Dup15q, a rare genetic condition that causes intellectual and mobile impairment and can cause him to experience hundreds of refractory seizures in a single day.
In the time since, William has raised money, awareness and was crowned the Fred Hollows Foundation’s 2022 Young Ambassador at the end of the year. “It was really surreal and very shocking when I heard, because I never would have imagined when we started all this that I’d even be nominated,” William, now 12, said.
The entire Dray family are now focused on caring for Henry and raising awareness and funds through their branded ‘ Superheroes for Super Dupers’ merchandise line.
The family even experienced some good news lately, with a prolonged period where Henry was able to function without seizures.
“He had a really lovely period lately where we didn’t have any seizures for about six weeks, which was really nice,” The boy’s mother Lindsay Dray said.
In addition to drawing, social media and other awareness raising efforts like marches and lighting the city up blue for Rare Disease Day, William is now looking to branch out into other avenues for raising awareness.
“On the fundraising front, I’ve recently started up with photography, that’s another way we’re going to be looking to raise money,” William said.
“We’re definitely going to keep going with the walks and the awareness raising efforts, because it’s a really great thing when people are able to connect and just talk with people who are also involved.”
Henry, who is one of only 200 Australians known to live with Dup15q, a fact that makes outreach and awareness even more challenging and important.
It’s something that William is intent on expanding and keeping going, even as he encourages other youngsters to take up his title.
“Anyone who thinks they could be nominated to be an ambassador, just keep trying because if you’d told me in a few years I’d be talking to people about an award I’d received, I’d never have believed you.
“Really I just want to thank the Fred Hollows Foundation for everything they’ve done for us, and of course my family for supporting us.”