Helping people affected by cancer
Thanks to the incredible fundraising efforts of our Dry July participants every year, the Dry July Foundation is able to fund projects and programs that improve the comfort and wellbeing of people affected by cancer.
Everything we fund is to benefit cancer patients and their families and carers. We aim to make a difficult time, a little easier for those affected by cancer.
Where the money goes
Jane's story
When I finished work for the week and travelled to Wangaratta for my friend's wedding, I thought I was going just for a cheeky long weekend. Instead I was leaving life as I knew it behind.
Following a night of trying to dance through severe back pain and an unofficial diagnosis of "Leukaemia or Lymphoma, we were not sure which one", I was officially diagnosed with a mix of Acute Myloid Leukaemia and Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia on March 7, 2016 at The Alfred hospital. At 25, Leukaemia diagnosis was not something I thought I was about to face and rudely interrupted some big plans I had for 2016.
For the next six months, I called the walls of 7 East at The Alfred home for more nights than my actual house, as I undertook a mix of...
John's story
John Brown is one of the early patients of the North West Cancer Centre, located in Burnie Tasmania which opened officially in May 2016. Living in Sheffield, Tasmania, John travelled some distance to access and receive chemotherapy and radiation treatment – about 130 kilometres each day. His wife who often accompanied John to his treatment waited many hours supporting her husband.
If it wasn’t for his wife, John felt that in a couple of years time he could have been dead. He had received a bowel screening test and had thrown it aside with the other he had received twelve months earlier. His wife Anne kept on asking him if he had done the test and said to do it. To shut her up he did it and it came back positive for both samples. A...
Pauline's story
Choices cancer Support program are pleased to announce we are included as a new beneficiary for the Dry July campaign, Below is Pauline’s story which demonstrates the integrated programs of Choices and the ways it supports Queenslanders facing cancer.
Why choose the Wesley’s Choices Cancer Support Centre?
Prior to my diagnosis, I had worked to help others in the Choices programs for many years , with Kim Walters Foundation and Think Pink. Choices, offered me the choices I needed to get me through this ‘Journey’…
I was 41 when my doctor said those words (that echo as much today as on that day) “You have breast cancer”, that was 11th June 2013. I am very lucky to have an extremely supportive husband and two beautiful, then pre-teen...
Nilla's story
Nilla is vibrant and kind-hearted; however, like many of us, she was content with how life was. That was until her diagnosis; an experience she attributes to changing her life…
On the 19th October 2004, I heard the words that I never wanted or thought I would ever hear “Nilla, you have Breast Cancer”.
My Breast Cancer diagnosis should have and could have stopped me from doing, being, and achieving. However, the journey has been life changing and with the help of John my husband, family, and friends, I am proud to say that I am a twelve plus year thriver.
I knew I had to face my Breast Cancer challenge head on and do whatever it took to stay alive.
I was introduced to Solaris Cancer Care when undergoing my Radiotherapy treatment at Sir...
Bruce's feedack
Dry July helped Royal North Shore Hospital purchase 7 new treatment chairs for the day unit.
The patients who receive their treatment in these chairs regularly tell the Nursing staff how much more comfortable they are when they have to sit in them for hours on end. The Nurses also report that the chairs have improved patient safety and allow them to administer treatment more easily.
"These chairs are heaven compared to the old ones. They've made a long day of treatment much more comfortable and they're so much easier to get on and off as well. The nurses love them as it is easier and safer for them to treat us.
Bruce 79 years
Mike's story
This year, funds raised through Dry July will go towards renovating patient waiting areas into interactive spaces to make the sometimes 5 hour waiting periods pass a little easier and installing more comfortable seating.
A patient who has recently spent a considerable amount of time at the PA cancer centre is Mike Stott who had to relocate to Brisbane for treatment of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Tongue. By supporting Dry July at the PA Hospital, you are helping to ensure patients like Mike feel as comfortable as possible at the hospital during such a difficult time in their lives.
Here is Mike’s story…
Mike Stott, a Cartographer from Cairns, noticed that a lump in the left side of his neck had formed during August 2016. He wasn’t...
Horticultural therapy
“I always loved gardening, yet through stresses of ill-health, I felt I had lost my passion for it.”
Like many people undergoing a cancer diagnosis and treatment, Christine Fousketakis struggled to get through every day, and things she had loved doing, like gardening, became a thing of the past.
Diagnosed with breast cancer, Christine underwent a rigorous treatment plan at the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Wellness & Research Centre (ONJ Centre) including surgery, radiotherapy and hormone therapy.
Christine visits the ONJ Centre twice each week and takes part in many wellness and supportive care programs including horticultural therapy, which is funded by Dry July.
Gardening is a wonderful way to connect with nature and enjoy the present...
Helen's story
Last July, my husband, our youngest daughter and I shared a fantastic month camping through Central Australia. About half way through the trip, I had a spectacular fall - not a fall climbing a dramatlc rock face or wading through a swollen creek, but a very ungainly fall while hanging out washing in the caravan park in Alice Springs! I landed on my right side and really hurt my chest wall.
I kept massaging the area in an attempt to find out what I had done (l subsequently found I had broken a rib), and felt a lump in my right breast. Now I am pretty flat-chested, so I was sure it hadn't been there before. I assumed it was a consequence of the injury, but kept an eye on it.
When we returned home it was still there, so I diligently had it...
Wal's story
My name is Wal, I am one of those people who never gets sick. So you can imagine how daunting it was to be told I had cancer of the larynx at age 67 in what should be my last working year. After initial biopsy which confirmed the cancer, I was referred to The cancer therapy centre at Liverpool Public Hospital which I am told has one of only four machines in NSW to treat my particular cancer.
On my first visit, I was welcomed by what I can only call the most professional team of doctors, nurses, radiotherapy staff, receptionists and volunteers who took the time to explain everything to me in detail. What my cancer was, how it would be treated, the length of treatment and the expected outcome. I will attend the Centre 5 days a week for six...