Jason Sotiris is making the journey to Europe as he looks to get partners onboard for his children’s charity ‘Supertee’ and make it available for kids all over the world.
Mr Sotiris conceived this project in June 2018 when his daughter, Angela, was in hospital with a rare form of cancer called Langerhans Cell Hystiocytosis.
Angela overcame the slim 20 per cent survival rate and became cancer-free, with Mr Sotiris using the knowledge from his time supporting her to design a practical medical garment designed like a superhero costume that replaces the standard hospital gown: the Supertee.
The charity has gone from strength to strength since its inception, growing into a nationwide charity with support from major businesses.
“This time last year, we were only in 28 hospitals. Now we’ve got 61 hospitals in our program and we’re looking to help more than 10, 000 children this year. We’ve partnered with one of the biggest companies in the world, the Walt Disney Company, and we feature their designs on our Supertees,” Mr Sotiris told Neos Kosmos.
While incredibly proud of its achievements so far, the charity’s co-founder has his eyes on making the Supertee a global, which he is aiming to do during his family trip to Europe.
“The dream is not only to take my daughter to Disneyland in Paris, but also to speak to potential charities about partnering with them to introduce the Supertee,” Mr Sotiris said, whose father came from the village of Αγιος Γεώργος near Sparta.
“As an Australian charity, we don’t have the plans to establish charities overseas, so we were thinking ‘How do we offer our product to children in hospitals everywhere?’. What we would love to do is find nationwide charities that already care for children in the same space as ourselves,”
“If we could partner with them to manage and distribute the Supertee, this might be a way that we can get this to all these kids.”
Mr Sotiris leaves for Paris on June 23rd and he will be overseas until July, both holidaying with his family and meeting with potential partners for the charity.
“I’m trying to lock in some appointments in the U.K., possibly Italy. I would love to introduce the Supertee to Greece,” he said.
“I have a friend, Dr Patricia Koromvokis (Head of the Modern Greek Studies Program at Macquarie University), who is helping me to try and find contacts overseas. I am happy to speak to anyone and everyone who is willing to support us.”
The trip holds special meaning for Mr Sotiris and his family as he reflects on the ten years that have passed since Angela was first diagnosed at only one year of age.
“It means the world to me. For a construction worker father that wanted to find a way to help his daughter get through her cancer battle to now being able to celebrate her 11th birthday at the end of May, to now being able to take her overseas to Disneyland with my family, I am so incredibly grateful,” he said.
Mr Sotiris has his sights set on growing the charity as much as possible, thinking about potential designs for the Supertee inspired by Princes, astronauts, or even sporting teams.
“Imagine if there was a sporting team in Europe that would like to back this and kids in hospital could wear their team jersey. There is just so much potential with this. I’m excited in seeing where it goes,” he told Neos Kosmos.
I’m just excited at the possibility of introducing this overseas, having this Australian invention go worldwide. Partnering with European brands would be amazing, like sporting teams, children tv shows, even introducing our existing design ‘The Marvel edition’ over there.
Mr Sotiris did name one charity above all others that he eyes as the ultimate dream partner that would truly help in spreading the word of the Supertee.
“There has always been a dream of having a Supertee available anywhere for every child given bad news no matter where they are…If we had someone like Make-a-Wish in our corner, that would be fantastic.”
