“It is wonderful to have such an active women’s business community supporting ground breaking research into women’s cancers. We look forward to doing more together for gynaecological cancers and seeing the impact of those efforts on research. To have WID supporting us on International Women’s Day this year is absolutely fabulous” says Alison Evans (CEO ANZGOG).
ANZGOG has two major community fundraising and awareness activities: GO Step for Gynae, and the Save the Box campaign. GO Step for Gynae is a “Get fit, have fun” fundraising activity where we ask everyone to take 10,000 steps a day for 30 days in March 2017, and get sponsored.
Key ambassadors of the program include ultra marathon runner Heather Hawkins; TV celebrity, designer and model Annalise Braakensiek; and world champion athlete Jana Pittman. Each of these women have either been personally affected by a gynaecological cancer or someone close to them has. Their support helps raise awareness and much needed funds.
The GO Step for Gynae challenge highlights the importance of women being active to reduce the risk of developing diseases including certain cancers. For example, obesity is a contributing factor to endometrial cancer which has risen by 22% in the past 20 years. The increasing rate of endometrial cancer coinciding with increasing obesity is being likened to a ‘tsunami’ by some gynaecological oncologists.
Anyone can participate in GO Step for Gynae. To register as a team or individual, all you have to do is go to https://www.everydayhero.com.au/event/GOstep2017
Our other fundraising initiative is “Save the Box” which was launched in September 2016 to help raise awareness and funds for ANZGOG research. This award winning campaign finally helped break the silence about these little known cancers. Over $100,000 has been raised to date with more than 40 well known Australians helping to promote the cause through social media. Fundraising activities included a Money Box Challenge, sponsorship, and sales of “Save the Box” t-shirts. More than one million people participated in the campaign on social media.
ANZGOG enables large-scale clinical trials that span multiple hospitals to identify improved treatments for women with gynaecological cancer. Research to date has:
• defined the best chemotherapy regimens to reduce cancer and retain quality of life in ovarian cancer
• increased the lifespan and wellbeing of women diagnosed with high-risk ovarian cancer
• identified new treatments with fewer harmful sife-effects in endometrial cancer identified safer therapies for all gynaecological cancers
For more information contact: Julijana Trifunovic Manager | Campaigns and Events – campaigns@anzgog.org.au
