You are part of an amazing community funding life changing research and exceptional patient care.
From the tiniest babies in our Neonatal Critical Care Unit to the brave people, like Christel, receiving treatment in the Mater Cancer Care Centre, your support makes change happen.
Like many of the young women diagnosed with breast cancer, 37-year-old Christel was taken completely by surprise. ‘I’d found a lump but convinced myself it was nothing. I just happened to be at the shopping centre with my mum and my daughter, so I thought I’d pop into my GP and just get it checked.’ Rather than the reassurance she’d hoped for, Christel was sent immediately off for a mammogram and ultrasound, which resulted in a biopsy and confirmed not only that she had breast cancer, but that it was aggressive.
Christel faced many difficult moments throughout her journey, from the shock of diagnoses to the heartbreak of having her daughter experience her cancer. ‘I went from being a fulltime working mum, to a cancer patient. My daughter went from a naive 6 year old, to a very grown up 7 year old.’
Throughout it all, the support she received from Mater staff was something she was so grateful for.
By the age of 85, one in two Australian men and women will be diagnosed with Cancer
Cancer is much like a puzzle, but we don’t know the final picture, how to get there, or sometimes even where to start.
But Dr Felicity Davis head of the Breast Physiology and Cancer Group at Mater Research, is trying to unlock the mysteries of breast cancer and find those elusive edge pieces to create the border of the puzzle.
Dr Davis and her team are taking the unique approach that cancer should not be pigeonholed and studied as a separate biological entity, but instead considered a ‘broken-normal’.
Research is the most important tool we have in the fight against some of the major challenges facing healthcare today.
You make it possible
By purchasing Mater Prize Home lottery tickets, you are playing a vital role in keeping Mater at the forefront of research, education and healthcare, both in Australia and across the world. This leads to break-throughs in healthcare that benefit not just Australians but contribute to the improvement of health outcomes globally.
Thanks to your support, in 2018 Mater Foundation provided Mater Research with $13.6 million in funding for research into important health issues in your community.
Your support of the Mater Prize Home lottery helps to fund:
- Clinical programs and services
- Education and training
- Promising health research projects
- Medical equipment
- Mission activities
Every dollar makes a difference.