I wrote last October about a young 21 year old cancer survivor Chris Boyd who was training to raise funds and awareness of cancer in young people by kayaking the Murray River from its source to the sea at Christmas time.  He has succeeded brilliantly in his quest and was cheered on heartily by people [...]

Last weekend I had the pleasure and great honour of addressing the people of Narrandera in country NSW. They are very proud of the fact that this is the home of the Governor of NSW, Her Excellency Prof Marie Bashir.
A visit to the bush really brings you back to reality. The people are the  salt [...]

Hi Everyone,
 
I had the pleasure of meeting a great young  guy, Chris Boyd, a 21 year old uni student who has just beaten cancer and has taken the initiative to raise awareness and funds for Chris O’Brien Lifehouse at RPA by kayaking down the Murray River during the Christmas break. He will Kayak a distance of [...]

Hello Everyone,
 
With the Labor federal government now in place, it will be interesting to see what changes there will be in health policy and if there will be real change and improvements, particularly in rural areas.
 
There has been  the proposed change to hospital funding and management, with the powerbase being shifted from the states to [...]

There is definitely a move towards a more holistic approach to medicine. I am looking forward to attending at the beginning of Sept in Queensland, the 16th International Integrative medicine conference run by the Australasian Integrative Medicine Association.
The 2nd annual Integrated Cancer Symposium will be held in Melbourne. This is certainly the way forward in [...]

A great deal of my time is devoted to fundraising for research programmes for Head and Neck Cancer which was Chris’ surgical specialty. Tonight I was speaking to a gentleman who wants to run a marathon next year in aid of Chris O’Brien Lifehouse and Head and Neck Cancer awareness. People are amazing with their [...]

Hello everyone,
I am posting an image of the architectural design of the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse at RPA. The  architects from Rice Daubney have interpreted Chris’ vision beautifully for a Comprehensive Cancer Centre for all.  This will be a world class centre dedicated to cancer sufferers and their families. Here they will be able to access [...]

I am sending this blog from NYC where I shall have the opportunity to tour the “integrative centre” of the Sloane Kettering Memorial hospital. June 4 marks the first anniversary of Chris’ death from brain cancer. I must say I underestimated the impact of the lead up to the anniversary of the death of a [...]

The last few weeks have been exciting as plans for the Chris O’Brien Lifehouse, the holistic and comprehensive cancer centre which was Chris’ dream, continues to develop. Demolition has started on the site of the old Page Chest Pavilion at RPA with construction starting at the end of the year.
I met with architects last week [...]

Hello Everyone,
I attended the launch of the inaugural brain cancer awareness week at Kirribilli House on Sunday May 2nd, which is a Cancer Council initiative to coincide with brain tumour awareness week in the US.
Senator Edward Kennedy died from a high grade glioma as did my husband  Chris O’Brien. I have come together this week [...]