The 5th Brain Cancer Awareness Raising Event is set to be held at NSW Parliament House in Sydney on Wednesday, August 10 at 5.45pm.
The event is being hosted by Sophie Cotsis MP and has been sponsored by The Brain Cancer Group in association with Brain Tumour Alliance Australia (BTAA).
To find out more about the upcoming event, we spoke with Dennis Tritaris from Orama Communications who knows all about it.
1. Tell us a little bit about the Brain Cancer Group.
The registered charity The Brain Cancer Group – Care2Cure, (formerly named Sydney Neuro-Oncology Group Ltd), was established on the Royal North Shore Hospital campus in Sydney, Australia in the year 2000 by neuro-surgeons Dr Raymond Cook and Dr Michael Biggs, who were soon after joined by medical oncologist Associate Professor Helen Wheeler.
While passionate about improving the care and outcomes for their patients with brain cancer, it was clear to the doctors that this was not enough. These patients stood largely alone in a community that focused much of its fundraising and awareness on other more common cancer types.
They recognised the need for a highly focused community group, consisting of like-minded individuals of different medical and business backgrounds, who would dedicate their time and expertise pro bono, specifically to brain tumour research, education and patient and carer support. This group became the SNOG Board.
2. Tell us about the upcoming awareness raising event.
This event is the 5th of our series of Awareness Raising events at the Parliament House and was established under our Education Pillar. It is held annually (COVID-19 permitting) and our goal is to bring together patients, carers and brain cancer specialists to raise awareness of and highlight the challenges faced by brain cancer patients and their families.
This year’s topic is “Using improved molecular analysis of brain cancer to guide future therapy and research.”
The event is open to the public, the research and academic community and the corporate sector and we would like to encourage everybody to attend. Our friends and supporters will have the opportunity to find out about progress of our programmes and we will also be able to reach out to our local politicians, many of them in attendance, as we advocate for change and more funds for research. Research is key in our effort to find a cure and support patients and their families.
With this opportunity we would like to thank Sophie Cotsis, our Parliamentary Host for her unwavering support.
3. Why do you encourage people to attend the event?
We have found that events like this provide a unique opportunity for our community to meet and hear from a number of specialists in the field of Brain Cancer. We are grateful to our experts for the time they provide to educate our audience and help not only raise awareness of our programmes but also support patients, carers and their families.
4. How are you involved with the group?
I first came across the activities and work of the Brain Cancer Group in 2015 while working for the inaugural White Pearl Ball, an activity of the White Pearl Foundation.
It wasn’t difficult to be recruited to work on this field as I had a personal experience with this devastating disease.
Today I’m working on several projects for the Group and provide admin, Public Relations and communications, as well as technological assistance.
5. Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Brain cancer is one of the most under-studied of all cancers, yet receives less than 5 percent of government funds allocated to cancer research.
We would like to encourage the public to help our researchers improve outcomes for patients by supporting our events in any number of ways. Your contribution is much-needed and will be greatly appreciated.
People can book their free tickets on https://tbcgawareness.eventbrite.com.au
READ MORE: Suzane Peponis-Brisimis: Leading philanthropist shining a spotlight on brain cancer research.
