“I can make a difference” – how Coral’s legacy will help children with cancer
2023-08-04
After losing seven members of her family to various types of cancer throughout her life, 91-year-old Coral from NSW decided that it was time to do something. By including a gift in her Will to The Kids’ Cancer Project, Coral hopes to help the next generation avoid the heartbreak her family have endured.
For Coral, like so many people, cancer has shaped her life. She lost one brother to pancreatic cancer and another to a brain tumour, her mother died from bowel cancer and her father from renal cancer and various types of cancer have also claimed the lives of her uncle, grandson and nephew.
Her tragic family history is a testament to the need for better cancer treatments, and after watching the gruelling cancer journeys of her adult relatives, Coral realised how awful the same experience would be for a child. She says:
Adults understand it at least, they can process what’s happening…but when you see children suffering, it really brings home to you how terrible it is.
Despite the personal sadness Coral had faced, she was determined to do what she could to help make a difference for the next generation. Her strength to do something positive for others in the face of so much loss is touching, she continues to say:
…I can make a difference here. I hope the little bit I’m leaving does some good for the children. Without the research, nothing will change. But if people continue to give, the scientists will find solutions.
Coral’s wonderful gift to The Kids’ Cancer Project in her Will amounts to an incredible $10,000 – something that will be vital in helping researchers develop more effective treatments and help more kids survive cancer long into the future.
Coral’s gift is enough to open three new clinical trials, the stage of research where the very newest drugs are made available to kids with cancer, something that could be lifesaving in itself. Speaking of the importance of clinical trials, Associate Professor Geoff McCowage says:
Clinical trials are hard work. They’re expensive to do…it’s all a meticulous and time-consuming and very expensive thing to be in, but it brings a lot of great advantages for children on the ground now.
Being able to give children those new treatments in trials means that we can look mothers like Toby’s in the eye and tell them their precious child is getting the very best and newest treatment in the world. They couldn’t go to Paris, or London or New York and access something better – they’re getting the best here in Australia.
In fact, kids who are treated for cancer as part of a clinical trial have a higher chance of survival than those who aren’t.
We’d like to say a huge thank you to Coral for the incredibly special gift she has decided to make to The Kids’ Cancer Project in her Will, her compassion and commitment to improving outcomes for children with cancer are so greatly appreciated.
To find out more about including your own gift to The Kids’ Cancer Project in your Will, please head to our Gifts in Wills page through the link below − a gift of as little as 1% of your total estate could have a transformative impact by supporting lifesaving kids’ cancer research.