Christmas Appeal

Donate to Christmas Appeal in memory of Courtney Partridge McLennan

As the bushfire season approaches again please don’t let another Aussie die from asthma if it can be avoided.

Please donate to fund vital research into bushfire smoke and give support to people with asthma, so they can stay safe during the bushfire season.

Courtney’s Story

Courtney Partridge-McLennan was a bubbly and cheeky 19-year-old country girl living in regional New South Wales.

About this time a year ago, Courtney Partridge-McLennan went out with her mum and dad to see the Christmas lights switched on in their hometown of Glen Innes. It was a pleasant outing on a late November evening that the family remembers as just like any other.

Afterwards, Courtney went to bed in the granny flat she lived in behind her parent’s home.  There were bushfires around. Although Australians weren’t aware of it at the time, it was going to turn into the worst bushfire season our country has ever seen.

“The smoke didn’t start coming in till 9 o’clock as we were getting home”, Courtney’s mum Tammy said afterwards. “Never in my wildest dreams did I realise it would be as deadly as it was.”

Courtney didn’t appear to be troubled by the smoke at the time. She’d lived with asthma since she was a child and it wasn’t regarded as ‘severe’. She’d never had to be hospitalised for it.

But sometime that night, Courtney suffered a sudden and aggressive asthma attack.

Next morning, says her sister Cherylleigh, “She was found in her bed with her phone torch on and her reliever medication quite close to her. She didn’t have time to ask for help.”

Donating to this appeal, will help Asthma Australia, in legacy of Courtney, to improve the way air quality is managed, responded to and understood in Australia and protecting the breath of people with asthma. Thank you.

All donations over $2 are tax deductible.