Not all heroes wear capes but Orange siblings Connie and Ben Roxburgh are doing just that, their new-found superhero status helping to build the courage they need to continue fighting an undiagnosed bowel condition.
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Connie and Ben, nine and seven, have been in and out of hospital for the last two tears due to the condition, the raft of complications that have come with it and the mountain of surgeries necessary as a result.
Between them they've had 18 bouts of surgery, Connie enduring 14 since her condition was discovered in 2019 and Ben four since his was uncovered last year. Both are now forced to have colostomy bags.
The dynamic duo have struggled with the stress that brings, with the restrictive impact of the condition bringing on feelings of isolation and extending far beyond the physical.
When they put them on it feels like they can do anything.
- Shai Roxburgh
But they've found an unexpected "saving grace" in the Supertee, a medical garment that bypasses medical lines and tubes to make it easier to manage day-to-day necessities, like changing clothes.
Crucially, the shirt's designs inspire courage by allowing children to tap into superhero alter-egos by way of the 'Batman effect', a cognitive strategy which research shows helps kids build confidence in stressful situations.
"It's amazing, when they put them on it feels like they can do anything. Ben thinks he's Superman and Connie's started calling herself Ladybug," Shai Roxburgh, the pair's mother, said.
"They have really struggled at times. They've had to miss school to go to Westmead, they've been isolated and they've been through more than most adults will in their entire lives.
"Connie has been dealing with the colostomy bag a bit longer, but Ben was a very active kid and he's still learning what he can and can't do now, which is pretty tough for him.
"The Supertees make access easy when they've got drips, or lines in during hospital stays and they're comfortable, but more than anything when they put them on they immediately smile."
Of course, that makes everything slightly easier for Shai and her husband Jeremy too.
"The hospital stays are definitely a lot easier knowing your kids are smiling, and happier," she said.
"It has been a pretty awful two years. There's the mental and emotional stress, the financial stress and then the feelings of the unknown as well.
"As far as I know there isn't anyone else west of the Blue Mountains with two kids forced to have colostomy bags, so it has felt like there isn't really anyone else who understand, who knows what we're going through.
"So it has been really tough and the future is still very unknown too, the kids will have colostomy bags for the next couple of years and then maybe we'll be able to start talking reversal.
"But something as simple as having access to the Supertees has helped, so much."
More than 5,000 of the Supertees have made their way into hospitals across the country, but the not-for-profit's founder Jason Sotiris is gunning to donate another 8,000 by August.
He created Supertee after his daughter Angela was left in hospital for months, battling cancer. He was left feeling helpless and unable to perform the simple task of changing her into clean clothes, so he designed the easy-access shirt.
People and communities are able to make tax-deductible donations to Supertee online. The $45 gift packs are then passed onto a sick child on their behalf.
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