BOSS WOMAN 117 | WIN THE DAY

Meet Kristy Giteau, Founder of Win the Day and Mum of Supergirl, Ka’ili

Tell us a little bit about yourself? 

I am a mum of three children (Noa-8, Ka’ili-5 and Telu-2) and a wife to my husband Soakai. When my daughter is well, I work at Queanbeyan South as an Assistant Principal and love everything about my workplace. Fun fact: I was school captain at the school that I am now a teacher at!

Tell us about Win the Day and how it came to be?

We have been fighting my daughter’s rare cancer since July, 2019 and it wasn’t until we relapsed in June 2020 that I realized the significant gaps there were in supporting families with rare cancers, particularly in the fields of accommodation and nutrition. I started jotted all my ideas and concepts in my daughter’s unicorn workbook to pass onto the social worker and it wasn’t until I spoke more and more to families and health workers such as doctors and nurses that I believed a charity could be formed. It was a great initiative to keep my mind active and I’m a social person by nature so it was a good excuse to interact with other families experiencing the same diagnosis and get their perspective. The name Win the Day came from an early hashtag I used on my daughter’s journey page on Facebook (Kak’s Journey) and it had real importance to me because there are lots of uncertainties in the world of oncology with the treatment and the cancer but I wanted to make sure each day we spent in hospital was spent winning the moments and creating memories that would ensure Ka’ili went to bed with a smile on her face and she was eager to wake up in the morning. If she was doing this, I knew I was winning the day for us! The logo was drawn by my daughter and it is a picture of her and her big sister Noa (both without hair) under her favourite thing a rainbow.

How can we support Win the Day?

Spread the word and get Win the Day out there. If people do this, rare childhood cancers will get the profile they need and hopefully much needed financial assistance they deserve to support families diagnosed, taking away the financial burden many of us are faced with. It will also encourage more research to discover cures which may lead to seeing rare cancers getting more specialised protocols.

Any advice for those wanting to turn their dream into a reality?

I’m a big believer in everything happening for a reason and you only get dealt with something you can handle. Being the glass half full type of person, I would say look at every obstacle as an opportunity and don’t procrastinate and live on ‘what ifs’ and just do! Life is what you make it and surround yourself with people that are equally as invested in your dreams and aspirations than what you are! At the end of the day, what have you got to lose! Be present in the moment and go for it!