CEO message – Lifeblood February 2024

When blood cancer hits a family, their whole life can change overnight. Every day, my team and I connect with families who are swimming upstream, facing the unfamiliar and unpredictable experience of blood cancer.

“Our happiness bubble suddenly popped” – this is how blood cancer survivor Giles Purbrick describes the moment his family was floored by blood cancer. Like so many, they faced numerous challenges way past his diagnosis.

Your generosity is a lifeline to families like Giles’s. Through your heartfelt care, you empower families with understanding, guidance, and hope.

When you read his story, I hope you’ll realise how critical your generosity was in giving Giles the specialised support he needed to get through the toughest days.

Giles’s family is just one example of many who’ve felt the sudden and significant financial burden of blood cancer treatment and loss of income. In the last year alone, we’ve seen a 37% increase in people reaching out to the Leukaemia Foundation for financial help.

But you’ve been there for them.

Wonderfully, your support has also made possible a revolutionary new online blood cancer support service. Across our country, at kitchen tables and from hospital beds, people like Christie Yu, who you’ll meet in this issue, can access practical guidance and resources to help navigate blood cancer. And it’s all because of you.

Hope is incredibly important. It gives life to brighter days; it lets us imagine what’s possible just around the corner. Your generosity is funding one of the biggest investments in blood cancer research we’ve ever made. As you read this issue, I hope you feel inspired by the inaugural and talented recipients of our prestigious Breakthrough Fellowship program. Through the Fellowship, you’re making new hope possible today.

Thank you for changing lives every day.

Chris Tanti
CEO, Leukaemia Foundation