Spotlight on Governor’s Patronage: Cancer Council WA and Daffodil Day, 28th August 2020

The Governor is proud to be Patron of Cancer Council WA

Cancer Council WA is urging people to donate to the Daffodil Day Appeal and help fund life-saving cancer research this August. The money raised will help improve the lives of the 150,000 Australians diagnosed with cancer every year, like Hope.

Hope was five years old and just about to start school, when she was diagnosed with Wilms’ tumour.

“She and her siblings, Skye and Beau, were so close and always playing together. But one day as they were joking around, Beau’s face turned serious—he felt a lump,” Hope’s mother said.

Hope hadn’t had any other signs that anything was wrong, which is why the diagnosis of Wilms’ tumour, a cancer of the kidneys, came as such a shock.

She had to undergo treatment almost immediately, and her first day of school was postponed because her immune system was too weak to be around other kids who could make her sick.

While it was so painful to watch my little girl go through that, I’m so grateful that it was successful and Hope is now living cancer free.

Every day, from that day that Beau felt a lump, all through her treatment, and now being in remission, the most important thing has been for Hope to know that she’s not alone,” she says.

Hope’s family are encouraging people to support the Daffodil Day Appeal this August to continue life-saving cancer research to help families like hers.

“Now she can finally enjoy being the eight-year-old girl that she is, and we’re treating every day as a gift. It’s so important for people to support the Daffodil Day Appeal – the funds raised save lives,” Hope’s mother says.

Whilst the past few decades have seen some amazing improvements in treatment and survival for many childhood cancers, it is still the number one cause of disease-related death in Australian children aged 1-14 years.

Professor Joanne Aitken leads Cancer Council’s Australian Childhood Cancer Registry, a critical Australian research tool driving major cancer research discoveries both here and overseas.

“Cancer Council’s Australian Childhood Cancer Registry is a national warehouse of information in which every piece of data represents a child, a family and the hope that we will one day overcome childhood cancer,” Professor Aitkin says.

This long-running project is helping her team to see where and when childhood cancer occurs, how different children respond to different treatments, and where survival is improving or lagging behind.

“Overall survival has improved greatly over time due to the continuing advances from cancer clinical trials. We’ve seen around 40% reduction in mortality of childhood cancer overall with five-year survival rates of lymphoid leukaemia (the most common childhood cancer) now approaching 90%,” she says.

“The pace of research is entirely determined by the amount of funding that Cancer Council receives. Australian researchers have the talent, the ideas and the technology, and with the continued support of donors we will reach a cancer free future,” Professor Aitkin says.

Cancer Council WA urgently needs your support this Daffodil Day Appeal to keep delivering better treatments and to keep saving lives.

Donate online during the month of August at www.daffodilday.com.au or call 1300 65 65 85.

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