This September, we’d love your help to do something extra special.
On your behalf, we want to donate $30,000 for research into an area that has impacted far too many of us: Breast Cancer.
Thankfully, breast cancer survival rates have improved dramatically in Australia, with around 90% of women now surviving that diagnosis.
This progress is the direct result of decades of research into earlier detection, more targeted treatments, and better patient care. But this success story has a significant gap: it does not yet extend to patients whose cancer returns and spreads (metastasises).
This September, we’ll donate $1 from every ball of yarn sold to Metastatic Breast Cancer Research at The Olivia Newton- John Cancer Research Institute (ONJCRI).
Metastatic breast cancer is responsible for the vast majority of breast cancer deaths in Australia, and an estimated 20,800 Australian women are currently living with the disease.
While a woman diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer has a five-year survival rate approaching 100%, that figure drops sharply to around 32% once the cancer has spread.
ONJCRI’s Professor Delphine Merino’s research aims to close this gap, helping more women survive not just their first diagnosis, but any recurrence that follows.
So, if you’ve been thinking about buying yarn for your next project, or adding any yarn to your stash, by shopping this September your purchase will have extra meaning.
Let’s craft some joy - and do some good - together.
Professor Delphine Merino & team, Tumour Progression & Heterogeneity Laboratory at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute.
The Research Project
A breast tumour is not one single lump of identical cells. It is usually made up of many different types of cancer cells. Often only one or two of these different cell types are capable of breaking away and spreading elsewhere in the body.
ONJCRI’s Prof Delphine Merino and her team have developed a technique to individually tag and track these cancer cells, allowing them to follow exactly which ones migrate and where they go.
Her team can then investigate what makes these specific cells dangerous, with the goal of developing a test that flags a patient's risk of metastasis before secondary cancer develops, and stopping it in its tracks.
Learn more about Professor Merino & her team's research here.