Baxter Holt Recognised for Work with Cooper Rice-Brading Foundation

Baxter Holt was playing in Year 12 for the King’s School against Sydney Grammar when he heard the Cooper Rice-Brading story for the first time.

“I was captain of the firsts at the time, their coach came up to me and said ‘do you mind if we play 12?’ and I said ‘yeah, of course, not a problem at all’, not thinking much of it, then he turned around and said, ‘yeah he’s coming straight from his hospital bed to play, he’ll play and he’ll go back to his hospital bed tonight, and I said ‘Excuse me? What do you mean?’ And he said he’s undergoing cancer treatment, and he’s ill actually, and I just said wow.

“I went home that night and wrote him a letter that’s been published a few times in different news articles. From there we probably had 6-12 months left with him, then he passed when he was 18 from cancer. During his time in the hospital bed, he set up the charity after his name and the family have taken it over now.”

Six years later, Baxter was recognised at the Australian Cricket Awards as a finalist for the Community Impact Award, for his work as an ambassador of the Cooper Rice-Brading Foundation, which aims to fund clinical research to find a cure for Sarcoma.

Baxter’s role involves raising awareness of Sarcoma in the greater community to promote early diagnosis and provide support for Sarcoma patients and their families.

“It’s definitely a surreal feeling... to know you make an impact to not only people close to you, but people you work with, and people on the greater scale, it makes it that little bit more worthwhile.”

Baxter described his time working with the foundation as eye-opening.

Spending time visiting hospitals and kids that are coming to the end of their life at such a young age has provided an amazing perspective and has given Baxter a different view on life.

“The charity is outstanding, it’s originally family run, it’s very personal, very intimate, and it comes from such a beautiful place in their hearts because they have seen the worst of it,” says Baxter.

“Unfortunately, they lost their son due to this, so they want nothing but the best for patients, families, and everyone who has the harsh possibility of one day experiencing this vile and horrible disease.”

This perspective has been beneficial for Baxter when it comes to on-field endeavours, as he continues his cricket career.

“To step outside of the cricketing world and have a look at what goes on outside of it, you don’t put as much of your worries and stresses into cricket, which makes you perform a lot freer. It allows you to just go about your business and when you come home at the end of the day, whether you’ve scored a 100 or a duck, it’s not the worst job”.

If you’d like to get involved/support the Cooper-Rice Brading foundation, you can find them on their website or their social media channels.

Baxter says other ways to get involved include the events they run such as golf days and awareness campaigns.

The ACA congratulates Baxter on his incredible work and support of the Cooper-Rice Brading Foundation, a thoroughly deserved finalist finish in the Community Impact Award.