Your Dry July fundraising helps Solaris provide Counselling and Support Services for people affected by cancer
Solaris Cancer Care recognises, people with cancer sometimes need support to manage the many issues that arise on the cancer journey.
Professional counselling and support groups are an integral service offered by Solaris Cancer Care and Dry July funding continues to underpin this vital assistance. Provided by compassionate, qualified facilitators, our counsellors and facilitators assist patients to talk through and clarify their concerns and issues, help find resolution and reduce anxiety.
Dry July funds enable Solaris Cancer Care to continue their Guest Speaker Program
Dry July funding has enabled us to continue the provision of our guest speaker program. These free events offer the opportunity to hear from experts in their field and enable patients and the wider public the opportunity to understand how to live well during the cancer journey.
The 2019 program included an Exercise Science Update presentation by leading academic, Professor Rob Newton. This presentation included cancer related fatigue and the influence of exercise; exercise medicine and tumour biology, reducing decline in strength, body composition and functional ability in cancer patients. This information is invaluable in managing and living with a cancer diagnosis.
2019 Dry July funds contributed to the introduction of drumming circle workshops at Solaris Cancer Care!
Solaris Cancer Care is fortunate to have counsellors trained in the Holyoake DRUMBEAT program and with the aid of Dry July, we purchased African Djembe drums and introduced drumming circle workshops. No musical skills or experience are required by participants.
As well as providing a sense of community, these structured programs incorporate music, psychology and neurobiology to build resilience through rhythm.
Dry July funds help Westmead support people like Jane
I have been a patient at the Crown Princess Mary Cancer Centre Westmead for the past 12 months.
When I first started attending, I found the centre very clinical and it reminded you that you were visiting the hospital yet again for another appointment.
After Dry July 2019 the funds raised gave the centre a much needed upgrade.
It was now a bright, peaceful and more comfortable place to visit. The beautiful artwork gave you something to lose your thoughts in and a more comfortable seat made the wait not as hard.
The Centre does some wonderful work for me and countless other patients and the funds raised really do assist those undergoing cancer treatment.
Funds raised by Dry July participants help The Alfred support people like Brett
On Valentines’ Day 2018, I was diagnosed with Leukaemia ALL B Cell Philadelphia Positive – a rare and aggressive form of cancer. I went to the see a local Melbourne GP after feeling unwell for about a month; however, I didn’t think my symptoms were all that serious. My symptoms were a cold with a barking cough, night sweats which became continuous throughout the day as time progressed, a faint purple dotted rash on my chest and legs, fatigue, muscle soreness, heavy menstrual period and nose and mouth bleeds.
Once I explained these symptoms to the GP, he urged me to go straight to Emergency as there was likely something wrong with my blood composition. He explained it could be Idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP), and Lymphoma or...
Your Dry July fundraising helps St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne support people like Karen
Living with an incurable cancer is an extremely challenging situation for anyone to be faced with but Warrnambool resident Karen Wilde has refused to focus on the negatives of her diagnosis. Instead, she has harnessed the power of positive thinking and is making the most of life.
Karen was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of bone marrow cancer, seven years ago. Her diagnosis came after she complained to her doctor about knee pain.
“It was a stroke of luck that my doctor recalled a woman who had experienced similar symptoms who had been diagnosed with the disease,” Karen said.
In Australia, approximately 1700 people are diagnosed with myeloma each year.
Karen is one of only 46 people in the world participating in a clinical trial...
Your Dry July fundraising helps St Vincent's Hospital Sydney support people like Ulrike
"I immensely enjoyed the free group programs at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre made possible by Dry July fundraising.
They were a gift sent from heaven during a very tough time of treatment including chemotherapy, radiation therapy and several surgeries. They not only provided a diversion from the tough treatment but also equipped me with techniques to reduce my anxiety and improve my sleep, and allowed me to see the possibility of a future. Indeed, they greatly contributed to getting me back, mentally and physically, to a state where I could function again for my two little children.
The programs also connected me to other people who were faced with the same difficulties and tough decisions. Suddenly I was not alone anymore and was able to...
Nguyen 'Thai' Dang's Story
The care shown to Nguyen Thai Dang since he first came to the oncology ward of the Princess Alexandra Hospital in 2018 for chemotherapy to treat leukemia, ended in him nicknaming the PA ‘The Hilton of Hospitals’ and becoming not only a survivor but a champion of the hospital and its staff.
Thai, as he is known to his friends, checked into the PA’s Oncology ward at the request of haematologists on October 22, due to his white blood cell count sliding downward for a matter of months.
“There was a trial treatment organized by PA Hospital and Norvatis Pharmaceutical that would allow me to have a path to treatment that would be less of a burden to Australian taxpayers. Looking at the results of my last blood test, I decided to get on the...
A busy working mother of three, Meredith Holmes was diagnosed with an aggressive type of breast cancer
Running along a beach in Queensland with her sister, 42 year-old Meredith had to slow down because of the pain she was feeling from a lump in her breast. She had noticed the lump previously but hadn’t for a moment thought it might be breast cancer.
“There was no history of breast cancer in my family,” she says. “I had a scan in Queensland and it suggested I have more follow up tests when I got back to Melbourne, where I was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of breast cancer.”
A recent separation meant she was facing diagnosis and treatment as a single mother. Treatment was immediate and urgent, with surgery to remove the tumor followed by a course of chemotherapy four weeks later once Meredith had recovered from the surgery....