Pulling herself out of her comfort zone, the 10-year-old Little Bendigo Primary School student told about 100 students, teachers and parents why bringing attention to the degenerative brain illness is close to her heart.

“About one in 8000 people have a faulty Huntington’s disease gene and in my family I’ve got two people with it which is really rare,” she told the audience.

Tiana’s pop Bernie and great-uncle Tim both have Huntington’s disease and watched on proudly yesterday as Tiana delivered a 15 minute speech.

“I really want to make people aware about it,” she said. “It’s a disease that affects the brain and people have trouble with speech and have a hard time walking.”

“My pa and uncle don’t really speak very clearly and they need walking sticks because they can’t walk very well.”

Huntington’s disease occurs as a result of a faulty gene which causes brain cell death in parts of the brain responsible for motor movement, control and coordination, cognition, personality and emotions.

As the cells die, a person’s ability to think, feel and move is impaired. The most common symptom of Huntington’s disease is jerky movement of the arms and legs and difficulty with speech, swallowing and concentration.

Sadly, there is no cure and life expectancy is about 15 years from diagnosis.

“I believe people really need to know about Huntington’s disease because it’s really bad,” Tiana said.

As well as the speech to raise awareness, Tiana sold wrist bands, ribbons, has an Everyday Hero fundraising page and yesterday sold cupcakes to fellow students and teachers.

And to support the cause, the 85 students of Little Bendigo Primary School yesterday dressed in blue and purple – blue to represent adults with Huntington’s disease and purple to represent young people diagnosed – and donated money toward the cause.

Even before the total was counted, Tiana had raised more than $750 to donate toward research and treatment.

Tiana did the speech not just to raise awareness, but to tick off some goals she had set in class.

“I have public speaking as a goal because I’m usually very quiet,” she said. Raising awareness was another goal on her list, as was working out changing, counting donations and handling money.

Her teacher Tammy Attard said Tiana went above and beyond her goals.

“Instead of doing something that someone else has set, they learn through setting goals and their own motivation,” she said.