Tax season is a critical time for cancer research, because it’s a time when Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF) relies on the generous gifts from our supporters to help fund lifesaving research that will give people diagnosed with cancer greater certainty.
People like Sam.
Until she was seven years old, Sam’s childhood was carefree and secure. But when her mum was diagnosed with breast cancer and died two years later, Sam lost trust in her world.
Just as Sam started to find solid ground in her mid-20s, cancer threw her into the abyss again. This time it was her own diagnosis: stage 4 colon cancer.
As Sam listened to an oncologist and a surgeon arguing over the best course of treatment for her, it really hit home.
“They didn’t have treatments that were going to cure me.” – Sam.
Sam’s doctors can’t give her certainty, and unfortunately this is the case for thousands of others impacted by cancer.
Each year, ACRF grows more determined to find these answers. By fueling research breakthroughs with funding, we can ensure our loved ones have options for lifesaving treatment.
Will you help us?
*Costs of this appeal have been covered by untied funding, making it possible for 100% of your donation to fund cancer research.
It ended what had been a wonderful childhood ‘til then. "Mum’s cancer had spread fast, and treatments didn’t work."
At 28 I was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
Dad was with me – I remember him trying to hide his emotion.
Just thinking ‘I’m going to die’.
There was an appointment with a surgeon and an oncologist where they had differing views about what treatment I should have.
All the options had downsides and none had guarantees.
They asked me to choose.
It gave me a very intense rash that was painful and red and blistery and sore. It covered my whole face and body.
And chemotherapy wasn't going to cure me, nothing was.
The grass was greener, the sky was bluer.
There was a danger I’d end up with a stoma, but without surgery there was a danger I’d get a bowel obstruction.
The first surgery was one of the most painful things I’ve ever been through.
The scans showed there was still cancer in my body. After all that. I was devastated.
I’m on another type of chemo now, and I try to stay hopeful. I believe research has potential to stop other young people from going through what I’ve been through.
But for me now, I am just trying to stay alive.
Researchers can see lifesaving potential in immunotherapy.
Extraordinary progress has been made in cancer research in Australia, but researchers still don’t know how to make immunotherapy work for everyone. Only by investing in new technology, equipment and infrastructure can we help researchers find treatments for every person’s cancer.
Since ACRF was founded in 1984, 90 grants have been awarded totalling $204 million to 44 research institutions across Australia.
Approximately 135 people die every day from cancer in Australia. Which is why visionary thinking is what is going to save lives.
Children with rare cancers now have treatments that didn’t exist five or ten years ago. And immunotherapy – regarded as a ‘new’ type of cancer treatment – is starting to save lives. Brilliant Australian researchers are working hard to save lives like Sam’s with immunotherapy-based cancer treatments. Funding cancer research can give every person like Sam, who faces a shortage of treatments, the hope and certainty they need.
Associate Professor Vivek Naranbhai and other researchers are eagerly awaiting the world-first scanning technology they hope will give them new understanding of how a patient’s cancer responds to immunotherapy – in real time.
This knowledge is crucial.
Immunotherapy has shown extraordinary results for some people with certain types of cancer, but there are mysteries which need to be uncovered for immunotherapy to save more lives.
To date, doctors and researchers like Associate Professor Vivek Naranbhai can only monitor a patient’s progress by taking a blood or tissue sample at different stages.
But world-first scanning technology will allow them to see inside the human body - and watch the interaction between cancer cells and a patient’s immune system in real time.
Including:
Why some patients don't respond to immunotherapy?
Why some patients experience serious and severe side effects, and have to stop?
Why some people see amazing initial results that don't last?
Why immunotherapy is so effective at saving some people's lives - but not others?
Pictured: Professor Mark Shackleton, Chief Investigator, The ACRF Centre for Dynamic Immuno-Oncology
