Telethon 2023: Spud King Tony Galati shares importance of fundraising after his granddaughter’s shock illness

When a shock illness left his seven-year-old granddaughter in a coma, Spud King Tony Galati said fundraising for sick kids took on new meaning.

On September 17, Freya Galati was rushed to Perth Children’s Hospital, suffering sudden shortness of breath.

She was sent to ICU in a critical condition, her parents told shortly after she had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

“It was the scariest thing,” Freya’s father Frankie Galati said. “You never think it’s going to happen to you until you’re on that other side.”

After a week in hospital, Freya was able to come home and adjust to her new normal. That includes the addition of a wearable glucose monitor and the restriction of every seven-year-old’s favourite sweet treats.

But for Spudshed founder Tony, seeing his granddaughter go through such a traumatic event has left a lasting impact.

“You don’t realise that you take everything for granted until it can hit home, like it did for us,” Tony said.

Tony has a long-history of championing better outcomes for sick kids across WA, including with Spudshed’s very own Telethon fundraiser Spudathon. Last year it raised $210,000.

And now Tony described his fundraising efforts as having come “full circle”.

He recalls Spudshed’s visit to PCH in December last year, where he and his family handed out vouchers to sick families on the ward.

Little did they know the Spudshed family would be back nine months later, for a personal reasons

“We’ve been donating to the kids for quite a few years,” he said.

“But we never realised that it could happen to us.”