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A local family is helping shape the future of childhood asthma and wheeze treatment through participation in the landmark ARROW Trial at Albury Wodonga Health.

Led by Deakin University and Barwon Health, the ARROW Trial — Assessing the Reduction of Recurrent admissions using OM-85 for the treatment of preschool Wheeze — recently reached a major milestone, recruiting more than 1000 children across Australia and New Zealand. Albury Wodonga Health clinicians have referred 61 children into the trial so far.

For Rosemary and her three-year-old daughter Abigail, who live a small rural community between Albury and Wagga Wagga, the trial came after repeated hospital admissions caused by severe wheezing episodes.

“We nearly lost her,” mum Rosemary said. “She’d get better, then get sick again, then better again. At one stage we just felt like we weren’t getting answers.”

It was during one of Abigail’s admissions to Albury Wodonga Health’s Paediatric Unit that nurses introduced the family to the ARROW Trial — a major international clinical trial investigating whether a treatment called OM-85 can reduce repeat hospital admissions in preschool children with recurrent wheezing illnesses.

“At that stage we were willing to try anything that might help Abigail,” Rosemary said. “But also, if we could help another family avoid going through what we’d been through, then that was an easy yes.”

Paediatric Clinical Nurse Educator and joint Principal Investigator Danielle Hanlon said recurrent respiratory illnesses can place enormous strain on both children and families, particularly in regional communities.

“Frequent hospital presentations or admissions can be distressing for young children and highly disruptive to family life,” Ms Hanlon said. “Parents may miss work, siblings can miss school, and families living further away from hospital often face additional anxiety about what happens if their child suddenly deteriorates.”

Ms Hanlon said children in regional areas often experience additional barriers to specialised paediatric care, including longer travel distances and reduced access to tertiary respiratory services.

“The ARROW Trial has allowed regional and rural families to access contemporary evidence-based care and contribute to important research, without the burden of extra travel or appointments,” she said. “All communication has been managed remotely through telehealth, phone communication and simple electronic diaries completed by parents at home.”

For Rosemary, one of the most important parts of the experience was the support provided by both the research team and AWH’s paediatric nurses.

“The word ‘clinical trial’ sounds scary,” she said. “But it didn’t feel clinical at all. It felt personal. The team checked in all the time, answered every question, and genuinely cared about how Abigail was doing.”

Ms Hanlon said participation in the trial has also demonstrated the important role regional health services can play in high-quality paediatric research.

“It shows that children and families in regional and rural communities should have equitable access to clinical trial opportunities,” she said.

For Ms Hanlon, one of the most inspiring parts of the trial had been the willingness of families to participate, despite not knowing whether their child was receiving the trial medication or a placebo.

“What has stood out most has been how motivated families are to participate — not just for their own child, but to help improve care and treatment for children with respiratory illness in the future. That’s incredibly inspiring and humbling.”

She said the trial also highlighted the important role regional health services can play in world-class paediatric research.

“Children and families living in rural and regional communities deserve the same access to clinical trial opportunities as metropolitan families,” she said. “Being part of the ARROW Trial shows regional health services like AWH can successfully contribute to high-quality research that has the potential to improve care for children everywhere.”

Now that Abigail has completed the trial, Rosemary hopes sharing their story encourages other families to ask questions and consider participating in research.

“I’d encourage people to read up about it and ask questions,” she said. “It might help your child, and even if it doesn’t, you could help somebody else.”

Pictured: Paediatric Clinical Nurse Educator Danielle Hanlon with Abigail