Adelaide
November 2-3, 2024
Adelaide Showground
Not all heroes wear capes, some wear Supertees! Australian company Supertee produces children’s medical garments disguised as superhero costumes that give courage and comfort to children battling cancer, and co-founder Jason Sotiris will launch the amazing product this month.
After years of hard work and with the help of Supanova, Sotiris will unveil the range of garments at Westmead Children’s Hospital, with “Supa-Stars”, cosplayers and more attending the launch and meeting ill children, while attendees at the Sydney convention can purchase the garment or make a donation at their booth.
The story of Supertee begins five years ago when Sotiris was sitting by his then one-year-old daughter Angela’s hospital bed after she had been diagnosed with a rare cancer-like disease, multisystem Langerhans cell histiocytosis.
“I just remember being angry, scared and sad. Why her? Why not me? She was so little so innocent, so perfect,” Sotiris recalls.
The chemotherapy was intense and with a lot of equipment around the place, including cables from the drip, lines and monitors, something so simple as changing t-shirts became a challenge. Sotiris teamed up with childhood friend and tradie mate Yusuf Muklis and came up with the idea of the Supertee.
“It’s a way we can all help, all fight back and help these kids believe they are stronger than they think,” Sotiris explains.
With Angela turning six this year and now healthy, Sotiris has big plans for the Supertee – the next goal is to raise $60,000 via a GoFundMe crowd-funding campaign in order to develop and mass-produce the Supertee. This will ultimately boost funding and raise awareness for all-important hospital research into childhood cancer.
Each Supertee comes with its own comic book and the option of an added cape that doubles as a bib.
You can join the fight by stopping by their booth in Sydney and donating a Supertee to a sick child or leaving a gold coin donation. You can also contribute to the GoFundMe campaign, follow Supertee on Facebook and Instagram and use the hashtag #HEROESWANTED when posting about the cause.
“Come by, say hello, we look forward to meeting you,” Sotiris says. “If you’re lucky, you might be able to meet my little superhero that inspired it all.”
“We want to empower little heroes everywhere, fighting their own battles with illness, to have the courage to win those battles.”
Head over to the Supertee website for more information.