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

The Advertiser has followed Mrs Graban's campaign to have the word ``defect'' removed from the NSW Birth Defects Register, in which she was successful in achieving in July.

In September, she started The Right Start support group for parents of children with Down syndrome with local mums Kelly Charlton and Darien Gray.

Mrs Graban said she was blown away to learn she had won the award.

The Right Start group meets at Mater Dei School, Camden, on the last Friday of each month. Its last meeting will be on Friday, November27. The Rotary Club of Macarthur Sunrise will put on a barbecue at Harvey Norman, Campbelltown, on November21 (9am to 3pm) to raise funds for the group.