Melbourne Storm will dedicate tonight’s Round 6 clash against the Canterbury Bulldogs to help launch the Bella Tripp Foundation.
Storm Chairman, Matt Tripp, and his wife, Yas, established the foundation in honour of their daughter, Bella, who passed away in April 2022.
Bella had fought a long battle with leukaemia, but it didn’t stop her from enjoying life through travel, learning to read, walk the Great Wall of China or finding a love for food, especially salmon sushi and dumplings.
Through her journey, Bella and her family explored a range of treatments and medical interventions, however she passed away in 2022 not from her battle with leukaemia but from respiratory disease resulting from the bone marrow transplant she had received in August 2021.
“She went through quite a lot over two and a half years and it’s a real bitter pill to swallow,’’ Bella’s mum, Yas said.
“What not a lot of people know is that there’s a side effect to the transplant, you can come out with a heart issue or a liver issue, but the most deadly is the lung issue. It’s a silent killer too and it’s an area that doesn’t get enough attention.”
Storm CEO, Justin Rodski, said Bella’s death was felt by the entire Club.
“We have seen first-hand the personal impact this has had on Matt, Yas and the entire Tripp family,” Rodski said.
“Some of our players and staff had a very close relationship with Bella. She even joked that she wanted to marry Paps.
Yet, through their grief, the family have shown enormous courage to set up a foundation that helps others and the Club will give them all the support they need to make this a great success, and hopefully help more children and families well into the future.
Justin Rodski CEO, Melbourne Storm
Matt, Yas and Royal Children’s Hospital paediatric respiratory physician, Shivanthan Shanthikumar, spoke to Storm coaches and staff on Monday of the challenges they faced during Bella’s treatment on Monday.
The Bella Tripp Foundation will support targeted research that aims to:
- Improve the understanding of causes of lung disease
- Discover better diagnostic tests that identify lung disease more promptly and in a less invasive manner, and
- Identify better treatments
The Foundation wishes to support Australian-based multi-disciplinary research teams who have the expertise needed to address these issues to ensure the same issues experienced by Bella, and many other children around the world, are never experienced again.
The inaugural Bella Tripp Foundation gala dinner will take place at the Carousel Albert Park on April 19th and is already sold out.
More information about the Bella Tripp Foundation can be found by visiting https://thebellatrippfoundation.org.au/
