Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

In 1975, two parents heard some of the most devastating words imaginable, 'Your child has cancer.' For Jack Kasses and John Lough this terrible news was compounded by the realisation that at the time very few children diagnosed with cancer and leukaemia would survive. The pair decided this had to change, and in 1976 they founded the Children's Cancer Institute from Jack's living room in Coogee.

On 29 September, I was honoured to attend the institute's 40th anniversary to celebrate the wonderful work made possible by Jack and John and the institute's many doctors, scientists and researchers, who have dedicated their lives to improving treatment for children with cancer. Today, the Children's Cancer Institute employs over 200 people, with more than 140 scientists researching the cure for childhood cancer.

Their most recent project, the Zero Childhood Cancer project, is a national personalised medicine program for children with high-risk or relapsed cancer, and the largest single childhood cancer research initiative ever undertaken in Australia. The program will revolutionise the way cancer is treated. I am very proud that this work takes place in the electorate that I represent.

I thank all of those who have been involved with the Children's Cancer Institute—in particular Jack, John and the team—for all that they have done in curing children's cancer.

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