Dubbo’s Owen Walkom has showed he could have a bright future on television after he stole the show as the face of the Gold Telethon on Monday.
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Owen played a starring role as the Sydney Childen’s Hospital Foundation and Channel 9 attempted to raise $6 million to help sick kids.
Since being named as the face of the Gold Appeal and the Gold Telethon at the end of April, 11-year-old Owen has appeared on the Today show, in countless media stories on the Telethon and has become a regular on the SCHF Facebook page.
Owen, the son of Anthony and Natalie Walkom, was diagnosed with Nephrotic Syndrome, the loss of protein from the kidneys, eight years ago.
He went through 15 operations, including having one kidney removed, in a bid to improve his condition.
In 2016, his remaining kidney began to shut down and Anthony donated one of his.
Since then Owen has improved dramatically and he has embraced his role as the face of the Gold Appeal and Telethon.
A fortnight ago a video of Owen giving a guided tour around the Sydney Children’s Hospital attracted more than 72,000 views.
He was at home in front of the camera and since then he appeared in other videos and photos, including during Channel 9’s telecast of the telethon on Monday.
“The Dubbo community has been amazing, all the phone calls and text messages through to the letters, I’m so blessed to go through it and for Owen to grow up knowing that he had everyone behind him rallying him to get well,” Natalie said in a video on Facebook.
As of 4pm on Monday, the Gold Telethon had raised $5,932,574 for the Sydney Children’s Hospitals at Randwick and Westmead with lines open until 7pm.
