Long before we worry about what school to enrol our child in or what colour to paint their room, we worry about the fundamental thing that will give them the best possible start to life their health.

10 fingers and 10 toes.

But sadly, not every child gets that perfect start. In fact 1 in 20 Australian kids is born with a birth defect or genetic disease.

One of those kids is 5-year-old Livia.

When Livia was born, her Mum, Kirsti and Dad, Brett had no idea there was anything wrong. Their beautiful little girl was born full-term and a healthy 7lbs 11ozs. She was a very welcome little sister for Sophie and, as you’d expect, they were all thrilled.

Livia’s family first started to notice that something was wrong when Livia was only a few weeks old. Her eyes didn’t seem to focus. Doctors said her optic nerve hadn’t developed and she needed to have an MRI scan of her brain which showed Livia’s brain was ‘underdeveloped’, but it didn’t explain the cause.

A neurologist said Livia might never see, speak or walk and she’d need round-the-clock care for the rest of her life.”The very hardest thing,” her mum says, “is not knowing why Livia is the way she is. Still to this day, we don’t know.” Last year, Livia was diagnosed with global development delay (GDD), autism and scoliosis in her spine, all caused by an unknown mutation in one of her genes.

This is one of many conditions our scientists at Children’s Medical Research Institute hope to prevent from happening to more children.

But we need your help. Help us help children everywhere.

With no guaranteed government funding, CMRI’s world-leading researchers rely on the public to be able to continue vital genetic and medical research.

Help us by donating to Jeans for Genes today, because 1 in 20 is still too many.