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Canberra Today 16°/19° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Trish shares a painful new focus

Breast-cancer sufferer Trish Grice… “The more money that is spent on research the more we will understand it.” Photo by Andrew Finch
Breast-cancer sufferer Trish Grice… “The more money that is spent on research the more we will understand it.” Photo by Andrew Finch

TRISH Grice is used to being behind a camera rather than in the spotlight. But her recent re-diagnosis of breast cancer has the 58-year-old photographer wanting to spread the word that there is a lot more work that needs to be done to understand the most commonly diagnosed cancer among women.

“People think that when you have been diagnosed with breast cancer you can have an operation and maybe start chemo, and you will be okay. But 30 per cent of people diagnosed with breast cancer still die from it,” she says.

Trish was 53 when she was first diagnosed with two different sorts of breast cancer resulting in a mastectomy and 12 months of chemotherapy and other drugs.

Within a month of celebrating being cancer free for five years, she found a lump in the other breast. After a second operation in November, she has again started chemotherapy to stop the further spread of cancer cells.

A specialist in pet photography, for the past three years Trish has been a volunteer photographer for the Canberra Mother’s Day Classic; capturing the raw emotion of the event best known for families and friends to support breast cancer survivors and those who have lost loved ones to the disease.

“It is a hideous disease and we don’t understand what is causing it or how to cure it. The more money that is spent on research the more we will understand it,” says Trish.

The Women in Super Mother’s Day Classic is Australia’s largest breast cancer fundraiser involving more than 130,000 participants around the country, raising money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

For 2016 the MDC is setting participants a special challenge, which is to raise a collective $4 million.

“The more we raise, the faster a cure can be found – this year if every participant raises just $50, we’ll reach our target of $4 million to fund research,” says Mother’s Day Classic CEO Sharon Morris.

“Our support helps the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) with the ultimate goal of no more deaths from breast cancer. NBCF funds life-changing research including better diagnosis and treatment options and improved quality of life after treatment,” she says.

Morris says that unlike many charity events, 100 per cent of fundraising from the event goes straight to NBCF.

Overall, the Mother’s Day Classic community has raised $27.4 million and funded more than 30 projects, making it the largest fundraiser for breast cancer research in Australia.

“NBCF projects have been internationally recognised for their impact on health outcomes and quality of life for women with breast cancer. This research has outcomes which can be applied to all cancers, not just breast cancer,” says Morris.

The May 8, Canberra MDC starts from 7am at Rond Terrace, Commonwealth Park, for either a 5km run or walk or a 10km run around the Central Basin of Lake Burley Griffin. Register online at mdc.mothersdayclassic.com.au/ on the day.

 

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