Your Impact

For decades, chemotherapy, radiation and surgery have been the mainstays of treating cancer, however they have unwanted side effects, and can leave survivors with chronic health problems, and lifelong physical and intellectual disabilities.

Your donations have supported the establishment of the Ian Frazer Centre for Children’s Immunotherapy Research. By capitalising on the strengths of a multidisciplinary team of experts, the Centre will accelerate the pace of discovery and ensure research is translated into a new era of children’s cancer treatments. The Centre will harness immunotherapy potential to make significant improvements in children’s survival and survivorship.

Because of you, Children’s Brain Cancer Centre researchers discovered that spinal fluid collected in routine lumbar punctures can be used to create a ‘genomic fingerprint’ of a child’s cancer.

This fingerprint can then be used to create individually tailored treatments. This revolutionary discovery could become the standard for treating brain cancer in kids. Research findings like this give kids with brain cancer like Isaac and his family hope for a better future.

The Queensland Children’s Hospital is now home to a state-of-the-art $5 million digital Positron Emission Tomography – Computer Tomography (PET-CT) scanner, thanks to a $2.5 million investment from supporters like you.

This state-of-the-art digital PET-CT scanner will provide easier and faster scans for paediatric oncology patients undergoing treatment at Queensland Children’s Hospital. Ensuring kids like Raf can have the right care delivered in the right place at the right time.

Thanks to you, a high-density (HD) electroencephalography (EEG) machine has been funded at the Children’s Centre for Health Research in South Brisbane.

This piece of equipment is central to a research study that is monitoring brain waves in children affected by stroke and brain injury. Helping kids like Rowan have a more pleasant treatment experience and allowing them to be awake, giving clinicians a more comprehensive understanding of their brain patterns during recovery.

Thanks to you, we have been able to support one of Australia’s largest music therapy programs at Queensland Children’s Hospital for over 30 years, to help kids with all illnesses, injuries and conditions on their road to recovery.

Music therapy is so much more than simply playing music. It involves the use of musical activities to engage with patients of all ages, aid their rehabilitation and recovery and help them reach their full healing potential.

Research shows that music can help build, or rebuild, important neurological pathways that can help patients to regain control of their language, speech, and coordination.

Kids like Lachlan, who suffers from chronic kidney disease, undergo countless medical procedures and treatments. Music therapy helps to ease a child’s anxiety, reducing their pain during procedures and ultimately, helps to make hospital a less daunting place.