She lost her husband to cancer. But she's still fighting.

By GLENYS BOETTCHER

My name is Glenys Boettcher. I am a long-serving volunteer and a loyal supporter of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation.

My husband John, whom I recently lost to bowel cancer, was one of the founding board members of the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, so we’ve been here from the start.  We’ve seen many changes, but the one guiding mission of the ACRF – to solve the problem of cancer – has always stayed the same.

If you have a moment, I’d like to share my story with you. Perhaps at the end, you might be inspired to know more about the Australian Cancer Research Foundation – an organisation that is so dear to my heart.

I’ll start from the beginning.

Back in 1984, a wonderful group of people led by Lady Sonia McMahon asked my husband John to help start up a charity that – free from government constraints – would fill a vital gap in cancer funding in Australia.

They saw that great scientists were working in poor conditions with dated technologies, and by rectifying this situation, new treatments and cures would be discovered faster than ever before.

This was how the Australian Cancer Research Foundation found their niche, and ever since, they have provided millions ($94.5 million in total, two thirds of this in the last eight years) to help Australian scientists speed up new breakthroughs in cancer research.

It’s certainly very hard to believe that 30 years has now passed since we joined the ACRF. Of course when we first came on-board we couldn’t have known John would one day be diagnosed with cancer. All we knew was that this organisation could make a difference. It could fight a disease which seemed to follow us around like a shadow.

You see, we had only recently lost our son to leukaemia.

Ian was 20 years old when he died in 1979. He was an active member of Friends of the Earth, he rode a motorbike, he had so much fire and he was going to change the world.

I still have a photo on our wall of Ian, 2 months before he died, holding his nephew. The chemo made his hair go curly and I suppose, to anyone else, he didn’t look sick. But he was very unwell. The photo says so much to me. He’d been fighting that cancer since he was 16.

Then I had my own cancer scare. Sometimes I forget about it because I’ve been one of the lucky ones, but I remember the fright I got when I found out. I had urgent surgery to take out one of my kidneys and, touch-wood, the cancer has never come back.

When I look at how life is supposed to unravel, I know that loss and death are part of the journey. But John and I met when I was 16, and now that he’s gone, I barely know myself without him.

Sometimes I remind myself, and it helps, that anyone who supports the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, as I do, has probably had the same experiences as me. We’ve had the same pain, and we’re in this together.

That’s why I’m still here – still volunteering at the ACRF office every week, and doing what I can to help researchers find the cures for cancer.

You may not have heard about the Australian Cancer Research Foundation until now, but I am writing today in the hope that you will please consider supporting them with a donation this Christmas. After all, the ACRF is built by people who know that new treatments are within reach. It’s built by people like us, people who show true action against this disease.

If you are able to make a small donation this Christmas, I couldn’t say thank you enough to show how much I truly appreciate it.

You can make a gesture of hope this year with a Christmas donation. Every dollar of every donation we receive goes to cancer research.

On behalf of everyone at the Australian Cancer Research Foundation, including Glenys, thank you for your support.

Glenys Boettcher is the Australian Cancer Research Foundation ’s (ACRF) longest-serving volunteer. Glenys and her late husband John helped start up the foundation in 1984 and almost 30 years later, despite John’s passing from cancer, Glenys still volunteers for the ACRF every week.

At the Australian Cancer Research Foundation (ACRF), our aim is to beat cancer by funding world-class research. The ACRF’s funding is used to purchase state-of-the-art equipment and technologies that speed up the discovery process – ultimately working to save lives by saving time. Since the ACRF’s inception in 1984, $95 million has been granted to world-class research in Australia, two thirds of which has been awarded in just the last eight years. These contributions have been made possible entirely thanks to generous Australian individuals, companies and community groups – the ACRF receives no government funding or assistance. For more information please visit: www.acrf.com.au