My name is Leanne, and I am honoured to be both a Rotarian from the Greater Dandenong/Endeavour Hills Club and the partner of the Rotary District 9815 Governor Colin Byron. For my 2024-2025 Rotary District Governor Partner Project, I am raising funds to support the Monash Children's Cancer Centre, a remarkable institution dedicated to helping children with cancer.
My goal is to raise $100,000 to train an in-house Apheresis Clinical Nurse Consultant who will provide life-saving treatments. While it’s a significant sum, this support can make a profound difference for many children, offering them not just a chance at life but a brighter future.
Please help us fund a specialist Apheresis Nurse to improve the quality of care and survival chances for children with high-risk cancers.
Monash Children's Hospital already has the equipment, facilities and medical expertise to provide Apheresis Therapy to our young patients, but the key is in the in-house Apheresis Clinical Nurse Consultant to unlock the delivery of the program. Apheresis therapy will also be a vital part of delivering personalised "Precision medicine", which is the future of cancer treatment. That future isn't far away, and providing this specialised nursing role now will equip Monash Children's Hospital for many years to come.
The Science
Children with high-risk cancers require very high doses of chemotherapy and radiation. Increasing treatment intensity significantly improves long-term survival for some high risk disease types. Apheresis Therapy uses the child 's own stem cells, extracted, strengthened and reintroduced to the child's body at the optimal time, enabling them to withstand higher doses of chemotherapy and radiation, significantly improving their chance of survival.
This project is deeply personal—it’s dedicated to the memory of my late brother, who tragically passed away on Christmas Eve in 1999. Pictured here with his young daughter, he was a devoted father whose greatest sorrow was knowing he wouldn’t get to watch her grow up. He once said, “No child or their family should ever have to endure the pain, heartache, and suffering of this dreadful disease.”
Despite his pain, my brother spent the last two years of his life raising funds for children with cancer, participating in rallies and organizing events that raised tens of thousands of dollars for Camp Quality. His legacy of selflessness and strength inspires me, and I am determined to carry his work forward.Throughout the year, I’ll organize various fundraising events with the help of Rotary Clubs and fellow Rotarians across Victoria, all to make a substantial impact on this vital cause.
No matter the size of your donation—whether large or small—it will help save lives. It only takes a moment, but it will make an enormous difference to these children and their families. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you for your generosity and support.
With gratitude,
Leanne
Please use this QR Code or the link below to donate. All donations above $2 are tax deductible using this link.
For direct deposits
Partner Project Account: BSB 633 000 Account # 217 861 194
Click on the start button to view the video below.
DG Partner Project 2024 View in full screen
Jordan's Story
This year will mark 13 years since Jordan earned his wings.Jordan was diagnosed with medullablastoma in April 2005, (A brain tumour formed in the medulla of the brain near the brain stem), he was 7 years old.
Jordan had surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy for 12 months; just before he started radiotherapy, he had to go back into surgery to have a shunt put in as he was developing hydrocephalus.
Once treatment was done, he had to have regular MRIs to monitor any relapse.
Jordan was a trouper; he faced all this with so much courage and determination, and he never complained.
He hated the clown doctors, and hated being told he could go home, and then the doctors would change their minds.
In 2010 he had his last MRI and he would be in remission and cancer free, except they found more of the tumour near the shunt. I remember the look on Dr. Downie’s face when he called us in, his words were ‘there is another spot and I don’t know how to save him’.
I looked him dead in the eyes and told him while there is life there is hope and you are going to find a way to save him.
He pulled himself together and came up with a plan.
We broke the news to Jordan and his words were “no one survives cancer twice”.
We set him straight.
He faced this monster again with even more determination than before, until there was nothing more that could be done. We were out of options and running out of time.
Jordan closed his eyes for the last time on the 14th of September 2011.
He was my rock, my inspiration, and my reason for living.
I am not sorry that Jordan graced us with his presence. He was a joy and a blessing to be around, he had a wicked sense of humour, and didn't like the clown doctors, because he believed he was funnier than they were.
We believe in cancer research, so much so that we donated Jordan's brain and the tumour in his abdomen so that perhaps they may get a cure or better treatment for others.
Without this research, and without your generosity, there is no hope, and without hope there is no cure.
So please give so others may live.
Too well loved to ever be forgotten.
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#Forever14, Jordan forever in our hearts 💜💜💜
Submitted by Jordan’s loving and devoted Mum. August, 2024
