Margaret and Aisling’s Story

At Mater, we know that research is the single greatest tool we have in the fight against cancer. Your support of Cars for Cancer is enabling our researchers to continue that fight and giving hope to patients and their families of a brighter future.

Sisters Margaret and Aisling are one of those families, but they are also patients.

They had their lives turned upside down within a few weeks of each other, when Margaret was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2020, and Aisling just six weeks later.

“At first, there was lots of fear. It was a very scary time, going into the unknown. I’d never spent time in hospital before,” said Margaret.

“It was really quite shocking, because we were still a bit in shock with Margaret. We are both single mums which made it even harder,” said Aisling.

Both sisters went through treatment at similar times–and they are both so incredibly thankful for the support from people like you.

Aisling said that for both:

“The team of people that we had, just the confidence we had in them for our treatment was huge. It’s just such a comfort to be confident in the support you have, when something so big is happening. The team at Mater were wonderful, absolutely wonderful,”

And with your help, they too are aiming for no more breast cancer deaths by 2030.

Investigating the cancer itself

Mater researcher, Dr Seth Cheetham is looking into what makes cancer metastasise; what makes it spread and grow? This research is vital, because the survival rate for breast cancer is comprehensively linked to the state of the cancer at diagnosis. If he can determine exactly what makes a cancer worse, he may be able to identify a new target for treatment. Dr Seth Cheetham may even be able to identify who is at risk of a more aggressive cancer, which would inform how that patient’s case is treated by their clinicians.

Your support of Cars for Cancer enables Mater researchers like Dr Seth Cheetham conduct vital medical research. You are helping to change lives with every ticket that you buy! Thank you for your support!