KENNARD'S HIRE KICK IN FOR QUEENSLAND!
June 2010
KENNARD'S HIRE KICK IN FOR QUEENSLAND!
In a major boost to the new Raelene Boyle Outreach Program in Queensland at a ceremony today Kennard's Hire presented Sporting Chance Patron Mark Taylor with a cheque for $20,000.
"Kennards have been supporting Sporting Chance since our inception and todays contribution is outstanding" Mark Taylor, Patron.
"Kennards for Kids, our annual charity drive, raises money for children's educational and medical charities. It is one small way that the Kennards family, the company and our customers can help sick and disadvantaged kids. Kennards Hire is proud to be a long-time supporter of Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation and the fantastic work that they do." said John Tolmie, Kennards Group CEO.
Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Celebrity Race Day
Please note that the 2011 race day is set for May 28 at Royal Randwick.
Sporting Chance supports QLD children with life limiting cancer in their own home
May 2010
Children with life limiting cancer and their families are now receiving support from their hospital based care team in the comfort of their own home using the internet, thanks to the funding by Sporting Chance of a special University Of QLD project launched this week.
The Raelene Boyle Outreach Program has been established by UQ's Centre for Online with the Royal Children's Hospital Paediatric Palliative Care Service (PPCS). The PPCS supports families during the difficult period of caring for a child an incurable cancer.
Web cams and the internet are used to hold video link ups between the hospital and the patients home. The service covers the whole of QLD including Mornington and Thursday Islands.
Sporting Chance have committed $315,000 over three years to fund the program in its initial stages.
"I know how difficult it is moving from place to place for treatment. So for this service to be available when parents are going through a horrible time is, I'm sure, a major benefit to them and their sick childrens." Raelene Boyle, SCCF Patron.
PPCS Consultant Dr Anthony Herbert said the outreach program provided siginificant benefits.
"I've been amazed at how much the webcam link can improve the care we provide to children living in Brisbane and outside of Brisbane," he said.
Funding by Sporting Chance has enabled the program to employ nurse Natalie Bradford to work fulltime assisting mums and dads across as they care for their terminally ill children across QLD.
The program is such a success it has been extended to encompass all children in palliative care.
"Over the years we at Sporting Chance have committed a lot of funds to research and programs to find a cure and to care for those kids afflicted with cancer in the hope that they survive. These kids aren't so lucky and we feel honoured to be able to assist Dr Herbert and Natalie with their care."
Jack Hughes, Director, Sporting Chance.
View Photo: Sporting Chance nurse Natalie Bradford and Dr Anthony Herbert, caring for a patient of the Raelene Boyle Outreach Program
View Photo: Raelene Boyle and video setup
View Photo: Raelene Boyle speaking at launch
2010 Raelene Boyle Scholar targets Lung Cancer.
Dr Zoe Wainer has been awarded the 2010 RB Scholarship. Dr Wainer will be carrying out research into lung cancer through the University of Melbourne and St Vincent's Hospital in Melbourne.
Dr Wainer's research aims to identify tumour genetic predictors of the spread of cancer to other parts of the body in patients with lung cancer who have undergone surgical treatment.
Encouraging Signs for Prostate Cancer
Sporting Chance's 2009 Raelene Boyle Scholar Dr Ben Namdarian recently presented a paper at the AUA in Chicago. Ben is researching the effects that a certain group of cells (circulating endothelial cells) have on the detection, prognosis and treatment of cancer. It is hoped that such cells (ie their behaviour under certain conditions) will act as an indicator to the presence of prostate cancer and to the effect of treatment.
SPORTINGBET PROVIDE A SPORTING CHANCE!
The Foundation is proud to announce that Sportingbet are now a major sponsor and will contribute $25,000 per annum to research into adult cancers.
"Michael Sullivan and Sportingbet have been donating $10,000 each year for over ten years! It was a great boost to the foundation when Michael called up and increased Sportingbet's support to $25,000 per annum" Jack Hughes, executive director.
Sporting Chance Court and Gardens Open
The Sporting Chance Court and Gardens at the Riverina Cancer Care Centre in Wagga Wagga were recently opened by Sporting Chance Patron and Director Mark Taylor.
The garden will offer some respite to patients undergoing treatment at the adjacent cancer care centre and also provides a link between the centre and the Calvary Hospital across the garden.
Sporting Chance provided $30,000 to have the garden constructed and landscaped – Sporting Chance will also provide maintenance of the garden on an ongoing basis.
The launch was attended by local political identities Kay Hull, Member for Riverina and former Liberal MP Joe Schipp. If you would like to know more about the Riverina Cancer Care Centre please visit their site at www.cancercare.com.au
View Photo: Tony Noun, RCCC Managing Director, Mark Taylor, SCCF Patron and Jack Hughes, SCCF Exec.Director after the unveiling of the Sporting Chance Court and gardens
Missi Moo and Friends Supporting Sporting Chance
Sporting Chance was recently contacted by Raquel Corea from Missi Moo and Friends – a company that designs and sells handmade toys on the website www.georgielove.com.
www.georgielove.com is Australia's first website store dedicated to promoting and selling handmade products from independent and emerging Australian artists.
Raquel has kindly offered to donate $2.00 from the sale of all Missi Moo and Friends toys to the Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation.
Sporting Chance would like to formally thank Raquel for her generous offer and encourages all Sporting Chance supporters to visit the Missi Moo and Friends section of the website at http://georgielove.com/manufacturers.php?manufacturerid=106
Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Celebrity Golf Day
Tuesday 1 September 2009
The annual Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Celebrity Golf Day is an opportunity for individuals and businesses to make a contribution to Sporting Chance projects whilst also playing a round of golf with some of Australia's most prominent sporting professionals.
The Golf Day is held at the Terrey Hills Golf and Country Club - all guests will are picked up and returned to Sydney by limousine.
All funds raised through entry fees, on course activities and auctions go directly towards Sporting Chance Homecare Programmes and numerous Sporting Chance Scholarships across Australia.
If you or your business is interested in joining us for this years Golf Day please contact: Jenny Nairne on 02 9240 9880 or 0418 408 531.
Sporting Chance Expands Off-Shore
The Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation has expanded off-shore by funding a Raelene Boyle Scholarship in New Zealand.
The scholarship has allowed Vanessa Blair, Research Fellow in General Surgery at the University of Auckland to explore the pathology and clinical features of a rare type of inherited stomach cancer called Hereditary Diffuse Gastric Cancer (HDGC).
A recent update from Vanessa highlighted that her main aim has been to address optimal management for affected patients.
In 1998 the first major stomach cancer susceptibility gene (called CDH1) was identified in three Maori families with a history of diffuse gastric cancer from New Zealand.
Mutations in this gene were subsequently identified in other gastric cancer families from around the world, culminating in the description of this new familial cancer syndrome: HDGC.
The newly diagnosed CDH1 mutation carriers in New Zealand initially declined prophylactic surgery, accentuating the management dilemmas in HDGC, which are compounded by the fact that not everyone who inherits the mutated gene will develop stomach cancer in their lifetime.
Furthermore, there are concerns about the sensitivity of gastroscopic surveillance and the significant morbidity and mortality risks of prophylactic surgery to remove the stomach in young mutation carriers before cancer develops.
The pathology of HDGC has traditionally been poorly characterised, thus a detailed pathology mapping protocol has now been designed to study resected stomachs.
All HDGC gastrectomies studied proved to harbour multiple microscopic spots of early cancer. The tiny spots of cancer appeared to be more frequent in one particular part of the stomach. These results were correlated with the clinical findings from a gastroscopic surveillance program trialled in HDGC patients from 1999-2003.
Vanessa's research has drawn together available information to address the management of HDGC from both the New Zealand case series and a literature review focuses on the clinical implications of research in HDGC and other relevant areas.
A set of age-specific recommendations on diagnosis and management of HDGC have been generated for circulation to the New Zealand Familial Cancer Group to reach consensus on best practice.
Vanessa says that the Raelene Boyle Scholarship has meant that she could afford to leave clinical work and focus on the research full time and still be able to meet her share of childcare and living costs.
Huge boost for Mark Taylor & Bobby Skilton Outreach Programs
The foundation wishes to welcome onto the team John R Turk and Rexel Electrical Supplies who join us in our ongoing fight against cancer and our efforts to make life easier for kids with cancer and their families.
Sporting Chance Managing Director, Jack Hughes said, "this is fantastic news for both our Sydney and Melbourne programs. The $50,000 p.a. commitment from the Rexel Group is nothing short of outstanding and will ensure our outreach programs continue to provide a new and much needed service."
John R Turk will throw their weight behind Sydney's Mark Taylor Outreach Program which operates out of the Children's Hospital, Westmead and Bobby Skilton will be kicking the ball to Rexel Electrical Supplies when they join the Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital's Bobby Skilton Outreach Program.
Rexel Group Australia Managing Director, Guy Picken said," the Rexel Group believes strongly in giving back to the community and we are just happy to help in some small way."
The Mark Taylor program services the Sydney metropolitan area and the Bobby Skilton program services the whole of Victoria. The programs provide treatment at home for kids with cancer, counselling for patients and families and the introduction of clinics within regional hospitals.
Young Scientist receives a Sporting Chance
Childhood cancer scientist, Tammy Law, has been awarded the Ken Callander Fellowship from the Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation which will provide $225,000 over three years to support her research into Leukaemia.
The inaugural Ken Callander Fellowship has been awarded to Ms Law to do further research into Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL), the most common childhood cancer with the aim to improve the chances of survival for children who relapse.
One in four children with ALL relapse as a result of Minimal Residual Disease (MRD), where a small number of treatment-resistant cancer cells persist during treatment.
"The work we are doing focuses on measuring the MRD of children who have relapsed ALL. The results from this trial will be used to determine whether measuring MRD at specific timepoints is able to identify children who will benefit from a bone marrow transplant or whether additional chemotherapy is required prior to a bone marrow transplant so as to reduce the chance of another relapse.
I really appreciate the opportunity Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation has given me to continue our research which will provide important information on how we can hopefully further improve treatment outcomes for children who have relapsed ALL and I would like to thank Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation for the funding they have provided to us," says Ms Law.
The Ken Callander Scholarship is granted to a young scientist undertaking a unique piece of research that will improve the outcome of children with cancer.
"I am very proud to have my name associated with the research to be carried out by Tammy. I thank the Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation, of which I am a patron, and I wish Tammy all the best in her endeavours to try and win the fight against Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia and thus save the lives of many young children," says Ken Callander.
Sporting Chance funds vital prostate cancer research
The Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation (through the Raelene Boyle scholarship scheme) is currently funding Benjamin Namdarian's research into the evaluation of screening strategies for prostrate cancer detection and treatment. Dr Namdarian says he is at an exciting point with the research as his newly gained perspective and knowledge have positioned him well to make significant progress.
Update on Reg Gasnier Fellowship
The Gene Therapy Project funded by the Reg Gasnier Fellowship has progressed in two areas in the past 12 months. The first area involves the development of a bone marrow transplant model using the MGMT Transgenic mouse as a stem cell donor while the second area involves a clinical trail in children being treated for brain tumours.
Development of a model for MGMT in vivo selection in allogeneic stem cell transplantation
The project has demonstrated that the MGMT transgenic mouse is a good donor for bone marrow transplantation between mice of two different strains.
The project has also achieved its aim of being able to successfully carry out transplants using a conditioning protocol (to allow for successful transplantation) that is not toxic to the recipient mice. The strains of mice being used are similar to each other in the way that a brother and sister are matched when these types of transplants are done in children. The project is also utilising chemotherapy at low doses to increase the amount of donor bone marrow that is engrafted with the recipients.
Although further work in optimising this model needs to be done, the projects findings should be submitted for publication within the next few months to follow-up on data which has been published as a result of presentations made at the European Gene Therapy Society Annual Meeting in Finland in November last year, and the Australasian Gene Therapy Meeting in Melbourne in April this year.
Clinical trail for minimising the side effects of chemotherapy in children being treated for brain tumours
The second project area is progressing towards a clinical trial using MGMT gene transfer to protect bone marrow from the side effects of chemotherapy in children being treated for brain tumours.
The project has been able to establish a collaboration in this area with a group from the Fred Hutchison Cancer Institute in Seattle - the world's leading bone marrow transplantation centre. This collaboration will allow the project team access to pre-clinical data, generated by our collaborators, which demonstrates that the MGMT gene transfer strategy can successfully protect the bone marrow from chemotherapy in a large animal e.g. dog.
Access to this data, combined with this collaboration will provide us with a strong base on which to seek approval from Australian regulators to approve the trial.
The Children's Hospital at Westmead - Cancer Gene Therapy Unit
In the past 12 months the Oncology Research Unit at the Children's Hospital at Westmead has made important progress on a Cancer Gene Therapy Project funded by the Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation.
Through the project, the Oncology Research Unit have successfully developed ways to minimise the side effects of chemotherapy and maintain normal blood counts while administering repeated cycles of chemotherapy.
Raelene Boyle Home Care Program Update
The Raelene Boyle Home Care Program is one of the major flagship services the Mater Children's Hospital in conjunction with the Sporting Chance Foundation is providing to the South East Queensland community.
Emma Brownrigg and Christine Mayne have been coordinating the Raelene Boyle Kids Home Care Program for the Paediatric Oncology / Haematology Unit at the Mater Children's Hospital since February 2003.
Since February, Emma and Christine have travelled more than 18,000km and visited a combined total of 490 patients. The reasons for these visits have been predominantly for medication administration, palliative care and bereavement follow up, education and support and blood tests.
Both Emma and Christine say the benefits for the families and the children being able to utilise the Raelene Boyle Home Care Program are enormous.
The verbal feedback they receive from the families is always positive and parents are thankful that the Program continues to exist.
According to Emma and Christine, the main reasons why parents find the Raelene Boyle Home Care Program valuable are because:
- They don't have to get the children dressed to go out to the hospital
- They do not have to drive in the traffic
- They do not have to wait to be seen as they would in hospital
- They do not have to get child minders for the other children
- They get time away from the hospital
During the year, Emma and Christine have also introduced an occupational therapist and music therapist to the Program. These therapists visit parents and their siblings for diversion therapy. Emma says this has been a huge success with the all the children involved.
A further part of the program has been providing families with ongoing support after they have lost a child. Emma and Christine regularly contact parents by phone and visiting their home. The feedback they have received on this service has been extremely positive.
Using Sporting Chance Foundation funding, Emma was also able to attend a "Hospital In The Home Conference" at the beginning of the year.
Emma says the conference was an important event to attend, as it enabled her to meet colleagues from all over Australia and New Zealand and discuss similar programs and ask for advice about the Raelene Boyle Home Care Program.
Jaymee Zeller Toronto Campaign
The Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation was recently contacted by the Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane to raise urgent funds for 5-year-old Jaymee Zeller.
Jaymee had lost an eye to a cancerous tumour at 10 months old and had been diagnosed with another cancer in her remaining eye.
The new cancer's growth had progressed so rapidly that the equipment Jaymee's family had raised funds to treat her original tumour with was no longer sufficient.
Doctors at the Mater Children's Hospital recommended that Jaymee's best chance of beating the cancer and keeping her eye-sight was to seek treatment at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada.
This hospital had developed advanced treatment for this type of cancer and was able to provide access to sophisticated equipment that allows doctors to watch the progress of a tumour and administer specialist chemotherapy.
As there are massive life threatening complexities with this type of treatment, Jaymee and her mother were going to have to reside in Toronto for more than five months.
The estimated costs for basic living expenses in Toronto and flights were $40,000.
The Sporting Chance Foundation responded immediately by agreeing to match any donation that the public raised for Jaymee.
After a series of media appearances by Sporting Chance Cancer Foundation Board Member, Jack Hughes, $40,000 was raised for Jaymee in less than a day.
Jaymee is now in Toronto with her mother and is reported to be responding well to the advanced treatment.