Birthday bash for butterfly boy

Curtis with Toyota Star Maker winner Jared Porter.

CURTIS Walsh celebrated his 21st birthday in style with more than 150 guests and local and international celebrities.
Curtis, the inspiration behind Sunshine Butterflies, celebrated his birthday on Saturday 30 April at the Sunshine Butterflies’ five-acre hobby farm.
Sunshine Butterflies founder Leanne Walsh said her passion and dedication towards disability education, awareness and inclusion began with her husband Damien when their son Curtis was born 13 weeks premature with cerebral palsy.
“Having a child with a disability is a lifelong thing. It doesn’t go away when they turn a certain age or leave school.
“Support needs to be effective and ongoing, catering for individual circumstances,” Leanne said.
Leanne’s desire to make her community an inclusive and accepting place has come from her own journey and experiences, all of which have led her to develop and create a successful one stop shop concept, charity and service.
Not knowing if Curtis would ever get to celebrate his 21st birthday, Leanne and Damien are ecstatic to have the opportunity to throw him an unforgettable party filled with all of his favourite things.
One of Curtis’s biggest loves in life is music and the guest list sure didn’t disappoint this young rocker, with Sunshine Coast’s best funky reggae band The Floating Bridges and modern country music singer-songwriter and winner of the 2014 Toyota Star Maker Competition Jared Porter attending the big event.