Alison Jones for Cancer Research

Alison Jones is on a mission to  raise $1m towards cancer research.  

These words from my doctor - Simon Harrison - gave me hope. My life was not over. That morning I had been diagnosed with stage 3 Multiple Myeloma, cancer of the bone marrow. My immediate thoughts were for my five young children. Their happy stable life was about to be turned upside down. I wondered if I would be around to see them graduate from school.

Eleven years down the track I’ve watched all my children graduate. And I've been lucky enough to become a grandmother to two beautiful grandchildren.

The Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre is world renowned for its ground-breaking research into cancer prevention, detection, treatment and cure. Please join me in raising one million dollars for research into all cancers so as to improve treatment outcomes for other fearful patients as the word ‘cancer’ slices through them for the first time. And to offer them hope, as I was given hope.

 

 

Peter Mac staff were privileged to have Alison Jones share her journey with multiple myeloma with us at our recent State of Research Forum.

You can listen to Alison's talk in full above or read the closing excerpt below.

"I'm grateful I've had the opportunity to savour not just the milestone occasions, but the mundane events too.

Thank you, cancer researchers, for family picnics, for being able to smell the freshly-mown grass whilst pushing my daughter on the swing.

Thank you for the opportunity to relax on a sunny day, and watch my sons play cricket, sometimes changing the game by taking late wickets.

And thank you for enabling me to become a grandparent of two precious children and for giving me the opportunity to enthral them by reading my favourite picture books.

But you've done more, much more. In those dark days of fear and despair, you gave me hope. When I thought my time was up I clung to the lifeline of cancer research.

And you brought hope to all the family. I remember collecting my young daughter from school one day, and her saying to me: "Mummy, maybe today is the day they'll find a cure for myeloma."

Simply put life-changing cancer researchers, all the endless years of your work, and the minute details of your research have saved my life. And let me watch my children grow into adults. And let me become a grandmother.

Thank you for giving me my life."