The Picton mum won the Spirit of Macarthur award at Thursday's annual Order of Macarthur Awards, run by local Liberal MP Pat Farmer.

The Advertiser followed Mrs Graban's campaign to have the word ``defect'' removed from the NSW Birth Defects Register, which she was successful in doing in July. In September, she also started support group The Right Start for parents of children with Down syndrome, like herself, with two other local mums Kelly Charlton and Darien Gray.

Mrs Graban said she was ``blown away'' when she won the award.

The Right Start meets at Mater Dei School, Camden, on the last Friday of each month. Its last meeting will be on Friday, November 27. The Rotary Club of Macarthur Sunrise will put on a barbecue at Harvey Norman, Campbelltown, on November 21 (9am-3pm) to raise funds for the group.