A 50-year-old man in roller-skates dancing for a good cause – sounds like the makings of a good night!
Kristian Storek plans to do exactly that to raise crucial funds for the Cancer Council through the Stars of Penrith event on Saturday, March 21.
Despite being a well-known businessman in the local area Storek has a much more personal reason to participate in the event, his wife, Amanda.
“My wife has a condition called CVID, which is Common Variable Immunodeficiency where she needs a three weekly infusion to pretty much keep her alive. She’s been having that for 21 years,” Storek revealed.
“In 2014 she was diagnosed with melanoma and had two melanomas removed.
“Then in 2016, two days before our wedding she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. She went through two years of chemotherapy and then she went through another two years of chemotherapy because she developed an interstitial lung disease. She’s had very close to 30 rounds of chemotherapy, it’s quite a lot.
“She’s good now, she’s in remission. She loves life. She is just such a beautiful, beautiful soul.”
Storek has partnered with Esther Ambrus-Davis from Penrith Skatel to bring something new to the stage: roller-skating in the name of fundraising for a good cause.
“It affects so many families, it doesn’t discriminate, it affects everyone,” Storek said. “You don’t realise how much it does affect people until you have to sit up there in the cancer care waiting room and see every person clinging to hope.
“I thought if I as a 50-year-old guy can put a set of skates on and dance around in Lycra and tights and if we can make one person’s journey a little easier by raising a significant amount of money … and putting a smile on someone’s face… it’s made the journey worth it.”
Ambrus-Davis has her own reasons for wanting to participate, her sister Noni passed away recently after a battle with cancer.
“She had ovarian cancer; she was diagnosed three and a half years ago. We were hoping she had longer but just before Christmas she was taken off all the pain medications and they were saying she didn’t have long,” Ambrus-Davis said.
“We lost her last week, which is really sad. I said to Kris, ‘we need to dedicate our dance to her.”
So far Storek and Ambrus-Davis have raised over $20,000 and still have three weeks to go until the big night.
“I just want to do as best we can, and I won’t be stopping this until that very day on March 21,” Storek said.
The donate to Storek or find out more information about the upcoming Stars of Penrith At Penrith Panthers Leagues Club, visit stars.cancercouncil.com.au/fundraisers/kristianstorek/ stars-of-penrith.
Emily Chate
Emily Chate joined The Western Weekender in 2024, and covers local news - primarily courts and politics. A graduate of the University of Wollongong, Emily has contributed to The Daily Telegraph and worked as a freelance journalist.