Telethon 2025: Celebrities including Chris Brown and Joh Griggs share smiles with brave young WA kids at PCH

“He’s still himself, he just has a horrible disease.”

That’s Claire Carrick’s realistic description of her little boy, Jacob, who hasn’t returned home since early September after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

This week the seven-month-old baby let out his first proper giggle since undergoing a heavy treatment of chemotherapy and spending 39 days in hospital.

“He’s a very vocal, laughing, baby, he wasn’t talking or laughing for a lot of the treatment,” Claire said on Saturday.

“Yesterday, I was tickling his chest, and he laughed.

“The first time he laughed, when he really first laughed, it was at his older brother, and I cried then. And then when he was laughing at his dad, I cried.”

Channel Seven stars Dr Chris Brown and Joh Griggs paid Jacob a visit on Saturday, one of many celebrity encounters at Perth Children’s Hospital ahead of Telethon 2025.

Jacob couldn’t stop smiling when his hospital room was packed with new faces just before Telethon kicked off.

His dad, Sheldon, said the last few months had been a whirlwind, but he remained confident his little man would persevere.

“Because he’s off the heavy chemo at the moment, he’s on the rebound . . . so he’s starting to feel himself,” he said.

“And even last night, when I stayed here, we were having a chat at three o’clock in the morning. We haven’t done that in weeks — he was yammering to me.”

This year’s Telethon theme, ‘Incredible Together’, was front and centre when some of the Seven Network personalities greeted patients at PCH.

Edward Kickett said he watched Sunrise every morning when he met presenters Matt Shirvington and Natalie Barr in his hospital room.

Holding his brand new Fat Cat teddy bear like he would an AFL ball, the seven-year-old said he can’t wait to make a return to the footy field.

His favourite part of the game — marking the ball.

Eddie was recently discharged from the intensive care unit for pneumonia, which later developed into a serious lung infection.

His auntie, Mandy, said she was “really proud” of Eddie with his recovery set to take a “bit of time”.

In her bright orange dress, former Wiggle turned award-winning children’s entertainer Emma Memma met 13-month-old Tommy Brown and his parents Simon and Sarah.

Tommy has been in and out of hospital since he was born after doctors discovered his bowels weren’t working properly.

Days ago he had a stoma bag removed and is now working towards a recovery. His dad, Simon, said the constant hospital visits had been “difficult”.

One-year-old Harvey Braithwaite was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis and made sure he was hanging around the hospital after learning Fat Cat was in town.

His grandmother, Cassie Race, said Harvey “loved” seeing Fat Cat close-up after watching him on TV at 7.30pm every night.

“He gets physio every day, medicine every day — it’s pretty hard on his mum,” she said. “Harvey has appointments at PCH every six weeks . . . he loved seeing Fat Cat, he was so happy.”

Other Channel 7 personalities visiting PCH on Saturday were Manu Feildel from My Kitchen Rules, and Larry Emdur and Kyle Gillies from The Morning Show.

AFL legend and sports presenter Ben Cousins paid kids a visit alongside Home and Away actors Hailey Pinto and Tristan Gorey ahead of Telethon, which began at 7pm.

Both the opening and closing shows at RAC Arena require ticketed entry, which can be purchased online at telethon7.com/tickets.

A gold coin donation on entry to RAC Arena can be made from Saturday 10.30pm to Sunday 5pm. The entire 26-hour broadcast will be live on the Seven Network and 7plus.