MANY, if not all parents, will tell you how proud they are of their children.
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Charlie Sherer is a little different. Charlie, who is just 11, has had four open heart surgeries. His first one when he was not even seven days old.
His mum, Elissa Sherer, is incredibly proud of how far Charlie has come and his 'absolute and genuine kindness'.
After all the hours he has spent in the Royal Children's Hospital in his few years, he wanted to give back.
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At Ararat West Primary School, pupils work on a a "self-directed learning" project as part of their curriculum.
Charlie wanted to use this project to research Royal Children's Hospital and extended that research into a fundraiser.
"I wanted to give back," he said.
Elissa said Charlie would need more operations in the future.
She said Charlie wanted to give back to the institution that saved his life.
"He is a really kind hearted person and he wanted to do something for somebody else," Elissa said.
"He loves helping other people."
Charlie sent a proposal to organise a free dress day for his school, he also went from classroom to classroom to talk about his experience at the Royal Children's.
"It's like a community based task," Elissa said.
"To investigate how the hospital helps the community and how Charlie could help the hospital."
Elissa said this experience had shown Charlie how complicated fundraising could be and the work put into fundraising for massive organisations and events.
"Charlie has spent a fair bit of time in and out of hospital over his time," Elissa said.
"He is completely aware of the job the hospital does for families like ours and for children like him.
"He just wanted to do something that would give back."
Elissa said the response to Charlie's project and talks in the classroom was "amazing".
"The children were amazed at all the information they got from Charlie about his heart condition but also his experiences in the hospital," she said.
"It did get children talking about their own experiences and it got them opening up about their experiences at the hospital."
Charlie raised $335 in one day for the Royal Children's Hospital.
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