Meet Julie Baird

I’m Julie Baird from Bendigo. I have three sons, six grandsons and one granddaughter. I have worked my own businesses 7 days a week for 37 years with my husband until a few years ago when he became ill. He was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called MSA , Parkinson and rheumatoid arthritis. I cared for him for three years before he passed away.

I have always loved helping people in any way I can so I decided to start fundraising for charities. 10 years ago, my friend’s 9 year-old daughter was diagnosed with leukaemia, so I decided to walk the Great Wall of China with the Leukaemia Foundation and raise vital funds. I raised around $10,000 in total.

Then in 2017, my friend’s husband was diagnosed with MND. We decided to join Fight MND and participate in the Daniher’s Drive. He became too sick to travel, but I continued to fundraiser and headed off. I raised $43,000+ in that first year, only to get bigger in the years to follow. In total, I raised over $250,000 for MND research.

After losing many friends and acquaintances to MND, I decided I wanted to help MND Victoria who had helped and cared for them. Four years ago, my sons and I decided we would walk the Kokoda Trail with MND Victoria. We started fundraising madly, only for it to be cancelled due to Covid. During those Covid years was when my husband became ill. I sold my little cafe and cared for him. I wanted to keep involved with fundraising for MND Victoria, so I joined the Great Southern Alps walk in New Zealand. But once again it was cancelled due to lack of participants.

In early 2024, MND Victoria decided to do Kokoda again, which would be leaving in October 2024. My boys were unavailable, so my friend Kelly and I signed up. We started fundraising once again (with a trivia night, barefoot bowls etc). I also trained and trained, only for it to be cancelled due to the local government and land owners disagreements.

Finally, third time lucky, we got to go. It was everything we could have hoped for. The walk was great (albeit tough at times), we had an awesome group of trekkers and amazing leaders, and good food. Our group of 14 raised much-needed funds for MND Victoria – around $110,000 in total.

I’ll continue to raise funds for MND Victoria through fundraisers. I love the work MND Victoria does for families suffering for this hideous disease, and I look forward to working with them again in the future.