Michele, Author at Child Cancer Research Foundation

Hero Hunter and the Wonky White Cells

Published: July 17th, 2019

When a child is diagnosed with cancer, understanding what is happening can be very overwhelming, not only for the child but for their family, friends and other children around them. Sarah Stanley has helped to make this discussion a little easier for children by creating the wonderful book titled Hero Hunter and the Wonky White Cells.

Sarah initially created the book for her Godson Hunter, the little superhero who was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in 2016. Hunter was only three years old when he was diagnosed and his intense treatment effected his weight, his ability to walk, feed and go to the toilet.

It soon became apparent that the book might have a wider audience, as it was an easy way for other children and even parents to understand what children with leukaemia go through.

Hero Hunter and the Wonky White Cells explores the science and journey of childhood leukaemia, from diagnosis to treatment. The book uses easy to understand analogies to describe complex concepts, well complimented by Sarah’s illustrations.

As a General Practitioner, Sarah said creating this book was the perfect trinity of her passions of medicine, education and creativity – along with the underlying importance of family. It was important for Sarah to create all aspects of the book, including the illustrations.

“I wanted to demonstrate the medical side to treatment in its realness, so when children see these things in hospital they are prepared and it’s not as scary.” She said.

“I hope it can help young children to better understand leukaemia. It has already done the number one job, which was to help Hunter.” Said Sarah.

Hunter recently became the first child to ring the treatment bell at the Perth Children’s Hospital to celebrate 100 days since his life-saving bone marrow transplant.

If you are interested in buying a copy of Hero Hunter and the Wonky White Cells, simply head to their Facebook page, where you can make a secure purchase through PayPal. The book costs $20 plus postage, with all profits going to charity, including CLCRF.

Generous raffle winner gives back to CLCRF

Published: July 16th, 2019

Recently, we announced the winner of our $15,000 raffle prize to be ticket no. 03127. We are now thrilled to be able to share the touching story of the man behind the ticket, Brian Jennings.

Brian is someone that knows the struggles of childhood cancer all too well, having lost his son Matthew to a rare form of Leukaemia almost 40 years ago. In the hopes of future generations having better childhood cancer treatments, Brian has very kindly decided to donate $5,000 of his raffle prize money back to CLCRF.

Dr Rishi at Kai’s Big GOLD Ball

Published: July 11th, 2019

Guests of Kai’s Big GOLD Ball this year are in for a treat with the recent announcement of Dr Rishi Sury Kotecha as a guest speaker! Dr Rishi is a highly-qualified clinician-scientist and is currently conducting childhood cancer research in the CLCRF lab at the Telethon Kids Institute (TKI).

Dr Rishi’s research expertise lies in preclinical and clinical leukaemia. CLCRF is proud to help fund many of his research projects at TKI, which all have the fundamental goal to improve the outcome for children suffering from leukaemia.

Dr Rishi has authored over 30 original research articles and he and his team recently had a manuscript published in a high impact journal. This significant achievement has allowed the team to share their findings on how a particular drug, called Romidepsin, has showed benefits in infant leukaemia.

With Dr Rishi’s wealth of knowledge and natural charisma, there is no doubt that his guest appearance is going to be one of many highlights at Kai’s Big GOLD Ball this year.

Have you bought your tickets yet? Don’t miss out!

Kai’s Big GOLD Ball will take place on Saturday 31 August at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre and tickets are selling fast! Click here to purchase individual tickets or tables of 10.

Find out more about Kai’s Big GOLD Ball.

Strengthening our Relationship with Beyond Bank

Published: July 10th, 2019

Foundation CEO Andrea Alexander recently attended a function at Optus Stadium to meet the Board Members of Beyond Bank. This was a great opportunity for the Foundation to strengthen our relationship with Beyond Bank and meet other community partners.

We would like to give a special thanks to Katie Tillson Voss and Georgina Nicholas for the invitation to the function, which also featured a guest talk by Dale Alcock.

Over $6,000 Raised at the Perth Tradies Expo

Published: July 2nd, 2019

This year’s Toolmart Perth Tradie Expo took place over the weekend of Friday 21 to Sunday 23 of June at Ascot Racecourse. The annual Expo is open to the general public and provides a once a year opportunity for tradies and DIY enthusiasts to purchase tools and equipment at special prices.

CLCRF was fortunate enough to be invited back to the Expo this year to collect the gold coin donations on entry, along with the Desperate for Love Dog Pound Rescue.

We had a wonderful team of volunteers who helped collect these donations at the front gates and even Foundation Chairman Geoff Cattach was there to help out. We are thrilled to announce that over the three days, we were able to collect a grand total of $6,135.15, outshining last year’s total of $5,182.45!

Marley 9 Years On

Published: July 1st, 2019

On this day 9 years ago, single mother Kerrin Hampson received the heartbreaking news that her 15-month-old son Marley had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia. The news came after Kerrin had enough of doctors telling her that there was nothing wrong with her son, that his lethargy and loss of appetite was caused by a virus that he would just have to ride out.

Kerrin’s mothers’ instinct led her to take Marley to the hospital despite what the doctors had told her.

“I remember it like it was yesterday.” Says Kerrin. “I fed myself, Morris and his sister, made sure they were cared for and then drove to Fremantle ED. The nurse looked at Marley and called the on-call paediatrician straight away. He was quite concerned”

After his diagnosis on 1 July 2010, Marley was taken directly to the children’s hospital by ambulance, being too fragile for Kerrin to drive him herself. The next three years saw Marley undergo intense therapies which left him tired and ill.

His treatment finished in August 2013 but he is still dealing with the side effects to this day. The harsh treatment has left Marley with cognitive and executive functioning issues, needing the help of tutors and occupational therapy.

“9 years later he had a weekend of adventure and friends. He has scars that run deeper than I thought possible, and still struggles but he is here.” Says a grateful Kerrin. “We are lucky. I will band on until the end of time to raise awareness and funding to help kids and their families with support and research.”

Marley continues to be an ambassador for CLCRF and has attended several functions over the years with his mum and brother to help raise awareness for cancer research.

More research is still needed for better outcomes for children with cancer. By donating to CLCRF, you can help us to not only increase the chances of survival, but also fund research into more effective protocols for drug treatment therapy.

Congratulations to the Raffle Winner!

Published: June 28th, 2019

Our ‘Lucky Numbers’ Raffle #48 was drawn today (Friday 28 June). Permit Number: LS211271118. The winning ticket was no. 03127!

The Winner of the $15,000 CASH has now been contacted and is extremely HAPPY! Our next raffle has started and is drawn on 31 October – if you would like to purchase tickets – please ring our Raffle Hotline 1300 139 651 or head to our raffle website.

Thanks to all who supported this raffle and helped raised funds for vital research into childhood cancers.

Julie Bishop appointed chair of Telethon Kids Institute

Published: June 24th, 2019

Former Foreign Affairs Minister The Hon Julie Bishop has revealed her first project post-politics. Ms Bishop will be the new chair of the Telethon Kids Institute (TKI), taking over from Mr John Langoulant AO who is stepping down in August after 14 years of voluntary service.

Mr Langoulant says he is delighted to be handing over the role to someone of Ms Bishop’s calibre. “Ms Bishop has always been a wonderful supporter of Telethon Kids as our local member and has advocated on our behalf on many issues, including helping us to secure funding for our building and for research initiatives.”

As the biggest fundraiser for TKI and with Ms Bishop having a particular interest in paediatric cancer, this is extremely exciting news for CLCRF and the future of childhood cancer research.

“We’ve got some really big plans for the future.” Says Prof Jonathan Carapetis AM, Director of Telethon Kids Institute. “In chatting to Julie, it’s clear that she is very keen to work alongside me, alongside our 700 staff, to really realise the true potential of this institute.”

Ms Bishop says she is very excited to take on this new position. “I’ve supported [TKI] over many years and this was a great opportunity for me to take on a role in what I believe to be a world-class research organisation.”

We are so thrilled to continue working alongside TKI with Ms Bishop as chair and we can’t wait to see what this means for the future of childhood cancer research.

Gaming for a Good Cause

Published: June 20th, 2019

There are many ways to raise money for a charity – whether it be through events, online donations or workplace giving – but CLCRF supporter Ryan has taken fundraising to the next level, through online gaming.

Since early this year, Ryan has been playing the popular multiplayer game Fortnite under the online alias of ExcessiveRage to raise money and awareness for childhood cancer research. He does this by streaming his gameplay on Twitch, a streaming service widely regarded as the online home for video game enthusiasts. The Twitch audience can watch Ryan play Fortnite live and if they like what they see and want to help him support the cause, they can send a donation through his channel to CLCRF.

Ryan’s decision to turn his online gaming into a fundraising initiative stems from his own personal connection with the cause. “Unfortunately like many others, I’ve seen a family member experience childhood cancer and witnessing the treatment broke my heart.” Says Ryan, “So I figured I had to do something to raise awareness and funds to fight it.”

Ryan got the idea from seeing fundraising efforts by streamers in other countries, some of which have been able to raise huge amounts of funds for charities. In fact, last year at a gaming convention, popular streamer Tyler Blevins (aka Ninja) participated in a charity stream that raised over $2million for a Memphis Children’s Research Hospital.

In Australia this is still a relatively new concept that is yet to reach the same level of popularity as in America or other countries. Ryan is the first online gamer using a streaming service to fundraise for CLCRF and he has already raised an incredible total of $311!

As for the future of Ryan and his fundraising initiatives, he hopes to continue streaming through ExcessiveRage to not only raise funds for CLCRF but to also raise awareness for the need for childhood cancer research. One of Ryan’s future goals is to run a stream lasting several hours in order to hit a goal of $5,000 for CLCRF.

“I get a lot of positive feedback when new people come check out the stream.” Says Ryan. “It’s rewarding.”

We think this form of fundraising is extremely exciting and we couldn’t be more appreciative for the innovative way in which Ryan is helping The Foundation.

If you would like to check out Ryan’s stream and help him raise funds for CLCRF, the best way to keep track of when he goes live is through the following social media channels:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rageexcessive

Instagram: www.instagram.com/ttvexcessiverage

You can find Ryan’s Twitch profile, ExcessiveRage, here: https://www.twitch.tv/excessiverage

Record-breaking amount raised at the 2019 Keep the Flame Alive Quiz Night!

Published: June 17th, 2019

This year’s Keep the Flame Alive Quiz Night was a roaring success, with a total of $17,354 raised for child cancer research! This well and truly smashed last year’s total of $16,000. A fantastic night was had by all and with so many games and giveaways throughout the night, there was hardly anyone who went home empty-handed!

“We had a great turn out for our third quiz night at the Perth Football Club. Everyone had a stimulating night and most went home with either a raffle prize or silent auction items.” Says CEO Andrea Alexander.

The winners of the night came down to a nail-biting tie breaker round between Table 3 and Table 1. A big congratulations to Table 3 who came away with the title! We were so impressed with the amount of smart minds in the room, with about 4 tables finishing very close to the winning score. A shout out to Table 10, who were the wooden-spooners of the night, and walked away with – you guessed it – wooden spoons (and chocolate too of course).

As is the case with any successful event, there are a lot of people we need to thank who helped make it possible. We would firstly like to thank everyone who came along and helped us make the night so memorable. We hope all the attendees had just as much fun participating in the quiz night as we did running it. It was so wonderful to see a packed room full of people coming together to support such an important cause.

A huge thank you to all of the local businesses who supported us with amazing prizes. The night definitely would not have been possible without their generosity. We had a total of 78 silent auction items and 54 raffle prizes on offer!

We would also like to thank the very energetic and entertaining Robbie Figg from the Happiness Co who donated his time for us. Robbie was an excellent MC that had everyone entertained from the very beginning right up until the end of the night. Due to overwhelmingly positive responses, he will definitely be asked to come back again next year!

A huge thank you also goes to the Perth Football Club. This was the third year the club has supported our event by kindly donating their fabulous venue.

Our volunteers also deserve a massive pat on the back for all of their efforts leading up to and during the night. The amazing volunteer team worked tirelessly to put this event together and we are so happy that we can say it has well and truly paid off for CLCRF.

We are still reeling with excitement from the event and overwhelmed by the amount of support we received, with all of our tables selling out a month before the event! We definitely have our work cut out for us next year if we are to smash this year’s total funds raised but we are absolutely up for the challenge!

“Our sincere thanks to all who attended, donated and worked above and beyond to make this night a success.” Says Andrea. “We could not do this without you. Stay tuned for next year’s date!”