![Four children have been admitted to Lady Cilento after contracting meningococcal.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/q/r/j/0/t/image.related.landscape.380x253.gtm4es.png/1483584258176.jpg)
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Travelling with allergies
If you have a family member with an allergy, a simple trip away can be life-threatening.
![Allergies: How you clean can make a difference.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/3/r/0/u/k/image.related.wideLandscape.460x259.13pdp8.gjzqfz.png/1444103993896.jpg)
Allergy risk may be tied to how you wash your dishes
A new study suggests that parents who wash their dishes by hand, rather than in a dishwashing machine, may unwittingly lower the likelihood that their children will develop allergies.
![Pets causing allergies?](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/a/6/x/g/image.related.landscape.120x80.a6we.gjzqfz.png/1444103993896.jpg)
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![The science of allergies](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/a/6/y/j/image.related.landscape.120x80.a6wu.gjzqfz.png/1444103993896.jpg)
Latest
![Seven-year-old Tara Doyle plays the ukulele outside her house to raise money for the Cancer Council ACT.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/o/v/a/c/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsoine.png/1480023422912.jpg)
How one seven-year-old's warm heart is helping researchers find 'the best cancer medicine ever'
When Tara Doyle began to understand what cancer was and its evil tendency to take people's loved ones away, the seven-year-old took to her street to busk with a ukulele.
![Matthew Wilkins, 18, died on the weekend after contracting meningococcal disease.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/u/p/e/d/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsupgy.png/1479819784909.jpg)
VCE student dies from meningococcal disease
Matthew Wilkins had finished his VCE exams and was waiting for his results when he was struck by a deadly disease.
![Jessica Whelan, 4, passed away on Sunday.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/t/s/5/b/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsts4g.png/1479687754481.jpg)
Girl,4, whose heartbreaking portrait touched thousands around the world, has died
Jessica Whelan, the four-year-old girl with neuroblastoma whose heartbreaking photo touched thousands around the world, has died after a 13-month battle with the illness.
![The Alcor Life Extension Foundation, one of the companies in the US that specialises in cryogenic preservation.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/n/g/8/q/image.related.landscape.300x200.gss4x2.png/1479447393572.jpg)
Girl wins right to have body frozen so she can return from the dead
A 14-year-old girl who has died of cancer has been cryogenically frozen in the hope that she can be "woken up" and cured in the future after winning a landmark court case in her final days.
![Stella Horsley, 13, pictured with her mum, Erin Horsley.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/r/c/6/w/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsrc3e.png/1479347386783.jpg)
"It is part of me" – teenager opens up about life with Alopecia
Although it isn't a life threatening condition, it is life changing for the thousands of people who are affected by it.
![Kosta Wolfgram was a sporty kid who liked rapping, dancing and making Lego.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/l/2/i/i/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsl2hx.png/1478662359213.jpg)
Heartbreaking film pays tribute to brother's battle with cancer
Making funny films was one way Luka Wolfgram helped his little brother Kosta get through tough times.
![Rebecca Amadei, centre, and her young class play a hand.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/k/m/l/z/image.related.landscape.300x200.gskn2i.png/1478655478876.jpg)
Inventors hope playground-friendly vaccination game will go viral
A young Melbourne doctor and his best mate wanted to find a way to get kids to learn about the value of vaccination. The solution: target the kids, not the parents. Make vaccination not just herd-immunity-cool, but playground-cool.
![Ava Lee, 7, is battling leukemia.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/j/p/e/f/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsjmr2.png/1478495094733.jpg)
Girl, 7, with leukemia who asked the world for prayers has "clean" scan results
Last week in a video watched by over 155,000 people, a seven-year-old girl who is battling leukemia, asked the world to pray for her before her upcoming PET scan.
![Piper Lowery, 12, died in January from complications from the flu.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/i/6/g/q/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsi35f.png/1478229935789.jpg)
Mum's powerful message to parents after her 12-year-old dies from the flu
The mother of a 12-year-old girl who died following complications from the flu, is begging parents to get their children vaccinated.
![Jessica was given four weeks to live.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/g/t/y/1/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsgt3s.png/1478126801592.jpg)
Father of terminally-ill child shares heartbreaking moment
The father of a four-year-old girl given just weeks to live has revealed a heartbreaking picture of the moment "where we as parents could offer her no comfort".
![Hayley, who is currently fighting cancer, in a photo showing just one eyelash.](/web/20170107072554im_/http://www.essentialkids.com.au/content/dam/images/g/s/g/4/e/l/image.related.landscape.300x200.gsg4m9.png/1478073685625.jpg)
Moving photo of a little girl's last eyelash as she battles cancer
Father-of-two and Melbourne-based comedian, Andrew Brown, has shared a heartbreaking photo on Facebook of his little girl with just one eyelash after battling cancer.
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