Work on Mounties Care Cottage moves a step closer, as Rio’s Legacy raises much needed funds to build the children’s hospice at Westmead
From Super Rugby to Sunrise on Seven, momentum is building for Mounties Care Cottage, as it gets ready to break ground this year.
Ryan and Karen Fowler lost their little toddler Rio nine years ago after he was diagnosed with a rare terminal disease. Since then, the couple have been on a mission to help families in NSW who are supporting children with life-limiting illnesses through the creation of Sydney’s second children’s hospice.
Through the incredible fundraising of Rio’s Legacy, and major donations from Mounties Group and the NSW Government, work on building Mounties Care Cottage at Westmead will start in August this year, with expected completion by November 2027. But more funds are needed to ensure families can fully benefit from Australia’s fourth children’s hospice – and the only one in Western Sydney.
Ryan is CEO of Rio’s Legacy and on 1 November he will run the New York Marathon in a bid to raise $100,000 to help furnish Mounties Care Cottage – with fundraising already at $70,000. He will be joined by a team of five supporters, including Seven’s Weekend Sunrise weather presenter James Tobin and retired GWS Giants player Callan Ward. The team recently featured on Weekend Sunrise to promote why the hospice is needed.
“This needs to be a sanctuary, a home away from home,” Ryan told CL. “Rio passed away in 2018, which is not a long time ago. But in that short amount of time, there’s been a big shift in paediatric palliative care. And I think (the government) has now understood the need for families to be around that nurturing space and having mum and dad, and also their siblings.
Cameron experienced a special Rio’s Legacy Roosters v Knights NRL match in April
“Because you tend to forget a lot of times siblings get left to the side when they’ve got a brother or sister who is not well, and it impacts the whole family.”
The hospice will be located at the Westmead Hospital precinct, but it will not face the hospital. “A big thing for families like us is the traumatic experience of going through a hospital again, and the government was keen to help us (position it) so it doesn’t have a clinical field. That was massive for us.”
Similar to Bear Cottage in Manly, where the Fowlers stayed when Rio was dying, Mounties Care Cottage will look like a residential house, with up to eight families able to have respite or end of life care for their child.
All will be paid for, including experiences for the family like art therapy, home cooked meals, proper bed sheets and even a hairdresser and massage available for parents. “Just little things like that, which is everyday life. But when you have a child that has a life limiting condition, they go on the back burner,” Ryan says.
In April and May, NRL teams Sydney Roosters and Newcastle Knights, and Super League teams Western Force and NSW Waratahs, dedicated their respective matches to raise funds for Rio’s Legacy. Ryan will run the Sydney Marathon in August to further promote the cause, and Mounties is hosting A Night in Rio gala on 10 October to boost the fundraising to $400,000. Fundamentally, what drives Ryan is that hospices save lives.
“There’s a statistic that 75 to 80% of marriages or relationships actually break down when a child is either diagnosed, or they lose a child to a terminal condition. And that’s a harrowing statistic.
“When (doctors) can’t save a child’s life, a hospice saves the family, they help put families back together.
“Bear Cottage saved us and that’s why we keep doing what we’re doing.”
SUPPORT RIO’S LEGACY
TCS Sydney Marathon:
30 August
sm26.grassrootz.com/rioslegacy
A Night in Rio:
Saturday, 10 October
mountiesgroup.com.au/a-night-in-rio
New York Marathon
1 November, 2026
