November Big Chop

By Elke Dous

Almost three years ago we found out that my dad has prostate cancer. That was such a terrifying email to read! We were living in Canada at the time, I felt so very far away from him here in Australia and utterly helpless to make any real contribution to him. Luckily for all of us he had and still has an amazing local support network in my mum and my sisters.

In the last few years I've lost a couple of high-school friends to cancer and a number of my best friends' families have been directly affected by cancer as well as my own.

I've created this page because I want to make a difference.

I'm inspired by the work that Garvan Institute of Medical Research do in investigating the way various cancers work and ways to improve treatments. They're making real progress! So I want to raise money for them to continue doing what they do.

I may not have any kind of medical background but I'm quite good at growing my hair. It's been almost four years since I've had a hair cut (not counting the little lock-down trim I gave myself upside down over the bathtub a few months ago!) so I've decided to do something radical and useful with all this hair.

On the 30th November 2020 I pledge to cut it all off and I'm asking for your support! This will not be easy for me (and my kids are not at all sure about it) but knowing that I'm helping Garvan Institute will be an amazing feeling.

I will also donate the cropped locks to Variety's Hair with Heart to be used to create wigs for someone with a long-term medical condition – giving back the gift of confidence and self-esteem.

Please help me help them by giving whatever you can using the 'Give Now' button. The more people that know about Garvan Institute of Medical Research, the greater their impact, so please also spread the word by sharing my page with your friends and family. Thank you in advance for your generosity, it means a lot!

My Updates

Tuesday 24th Nov
Unnamed 3

Excited and nervous to be launching this!

Tuesday 24th Nov
Thank you to everyone who has donated since this went up yesterday!! You've blown my mind with your generosity! Please share the link with your friends and lets see how much we can help!

Garvan's research

Tuesday 24th Nov

Here's a link to an article about one of Garvan's discoveries!

https://www.garvan.org.au/news-events/news/breast-cancer-2018ecosystem2019-reveals-possible-new-targets-for-treatment

Thank you to my Sponsors

$1.31k

Elke Dous

$270.97

Jurgen Dous

$162.69

Fi Kepert

$108.55

Inge Gatdiner

$108.55

Paul Denniss

$100

Maurice Ryan

$100

Fionnuala Bertram

$81.94

Tahrana Lovlin

$54.84

Sarah Mccabe

$54.84

Jan Jones

$54.41

Chris Mooring

$54.41

Dayna Ivory

$54.41

Kirsty Wallace

$54.41

Elizabeth Hegarty

$54.41

Mary Denniss

$54.41

Lian Parry

$27.73

Kate Deane

$27.34

Andrea Medaglia

$27.34

Melanie Duda

$26.38

Holly Knight

$25

The Beach Tarvers

What a great way to support

$22.31

Melissa Ford

$21.93

Janna Dilallo

$21.93

John Van Heerwaarden

$20

Warwick Graham

$20

Belinda Black

You're an inspiration and a wonderful woman! Great job xx

$11.47

Susie Durston

$10

Shelley Roes

$10

Chris De Pinto

Wow. Well Done From the De Pinto Family