Commitment, support and passion are hallmarks of organisations making a difference and this is even more significant when it’s to fight a devastating childhood cancer.
With very few treatment options and no cure yet, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a devastating childhood cancer, that is highly aggressive and difficult to treat due to the location of the tumor. The only way is through expensive medical research.
At a gala event in Melbourne last Thursday, the national advocacy body, Research Australia awarded the QBE Foundation the Leadership in Corporate Giving Award for amazing support of The Kids’ Cancer Project to raise funds to find a way to beat this terrible disease.
Research Australia CEO Nadia Levin said this award, now in its 15th year, is a significant acknowledgement of the role corporate leadership plays in advancing society at large.
‘In particular this type of leadership and support is incredible in its impact for those children and their families who live in hope that medical research will be find the cure or treatment and change their lives forever, and QBE’s support of The Kids Cancer Project is simply inspiring’.
In 2017 The QBE Foundation supported a research program searching for novel therapies into Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Gliomas (DIPG). This novel project aims to gather the necessary pre-clinical data required to progress to human trials.
A core part of The QBE Foundation philosophy is to ‘help people overcome disadvantage’ which closely aligns to the work of The Kids’ Cancer Project, an independent national charity supporting scientific studies which will help find better treatments and ultimately a cure for many types of childhood cancer.
‘The long-term impact and outcomes of the DIPG research project is what is critical to the partnership between The QBE Foundation and The Kids’ Cancer Project’ said Sally Kincaid, QBE Foundation Chair.‘
‘The QBE Foundation hopes that one day that children diagnosed with DIPG cancer no longer having to suffer a potential poor prognosis and we hope that there will always be a cure and that it will be as efficient and effective as it can be.’
The Kids Cancer Project is an incredible charity that was set up over 20 years ago to help children fight this devastating disease and has committed more than 36 million dollars, along with community support, to fund research to do just that.
‘We (at the Kids’ Cancer Project) have seen first-hand how involved the employees of QBE are with their charity partners and are very fortunate to have their support. This is driven by the Foundation via their Communications Team creating a philanthropic and engaged culture in their organisation to the benefit of medical research and community wide’ said Owen Finegan, CEO, The Kids Cancer Project.
The QBE Foundation does not steer away from the more selective and niche research opportunities. In fact, they have been very bold and excited by the opportunity to be able to fund innovative research, which can have the greatest impact on childhood cancer survival including supporting cancer research that has the lowest survival rates.
More information about The Kids’ Cancer Projects’ National Awareness Campaign can be found at this link www.thescienceproject.org.au.
Media Contacts:
Wendy McWilliam, Strategic Communications Manager, Research Australia – 02 9295 8545
Kate Sinclair, External Communications Manager, Marketing, QBE Australia & New Zealand
Direct: 02 9375 4882, Mobile: 0435 688 785.
