Blood cancers affect thousands of people in WA.

The word Leukaemia or Lymphoma continues to inspire fear in many. Lymphomas are amongst the commonest form of adult cancer in Western Australia. New treatments are becoming available with increasing rapidity but many challenges remain.

The Haematology Department at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital and PathWest need your help to meet these challenges. The Charlies Leukaemia & Lymphoma Fund was created in January 1998 to raise money for Western Australian research into these diseases, including new drugs, new procedures, clinical trials and better ways of supplying existing treatment.

There are several cancers related to the blood and bone marrow for which research is ongoing and support is urgently needed. These include acute leukaemia, chronic myeloid leukaemia, chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, the lymphomas (including Hodgkin’s Disease) and multiple myeloma.

Your kind donation will be put to good use quickly and will help many West Australian’s living with these types of blood cancers.

Dr Gavin Cull
Director
Charlies Leukaemia and Lymphoma Fund

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Haematology at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital

The Haematology Department integrates the state-of-the-art Comprehensive Cancer Centre at Charlies with full modern laboratory facilities at PathWest. A 24-hour consultative service to the hospital and other practitioners is provided.

Inpatients are looked after on Ward G73. Adjacent to the Cancer Centre is the Solaris Care Foundation, a Centre that provides complementary care services to cancer patients and their carers, a project initiated by Professor David Joske.

The department has a strong commitment to research into haematological disorders. The consultant staff have worked in centres of excellence around the world and brought that experience back to Charlies for the benefit of patients. There is a busy Clinical Trials Unit which offers new treatments to patients with blood cancers. There is a major focus on translational research with the aim of improving our understanding of leukaemia, lymphoma, myeloma and the myeloproliferative disorders. Strong links exist with the University of Western Australia and other research institutes.

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How the Fund started

The Co-Founder of the Charlies Leukaemia & Lymphoma Fund was Jane Humby. Her story began in April 1996.
“Our twenty-six year old daughter Karen Anne had returned home after working as a registered nurse in the northwest. A vibrant young lady with a compassionate nature and a great sense of humour, she shared with us some of her hopes & dreams for the future, and was on the point of enrolling to do further study to enhance her professional career.

Karen had always been fit and well and exercised regularly. It was therefore almost unbelievable to learn that the generalized symptoms she had experienced for just a few days were in fact late symptoms of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia, an extremely rare and aggressive form of bone marrow cancer called Acute Promyelocytic Leukaemia.

With barely enough time to even understand the complexity of this condition, and despite the ultimate medical care given, shortly after her admission to this hospital Karen passed away.

As the months went by and with no medical explanation for the cause of Karen’s’ type of leukaemia we needed to focus on creating something positive from this experience.

In early 1998 we approached Dr. David Joske about raising funds to establish a program supporting Western Australian research into the causes of and treatment for blood and bone marrow cancers. Although we were motivated by the loss of Karen to make this approach, we did not seek a public profile at that time. However the fund needed a title and as SCGH is known rather affectionately throughout the State as “Charlies” it was decided to create the fund in this name. With continued research and improved treatment methods fortunately for most patients with blood or bone marrow cancer the prognosis is much more hopeful, but many challenges remain and the Haematology Department needs your help to continue this vital work.

Jane and David Humby

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How you can donate

Donations of any amount are welcome. Your generous support of the Charlies Leukaemia and Lymphoma Fund will assist vital research into blood and bone marrow diseases. Your donation will be put to good use quickly and will help many people living with these diseases.

Options for donation are listed below. Please feel free to contact us if you have any queries.

Charlies Leukaemia and Lymphoma Fund 
Haematology Department Offices B Block
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital 
Hospital Avenue
Nedlands, WA, 6009
Ph: (08) 6457 7600 
Fax: (08) 6457 7607