Press Release: Maitland Mercury

Cheque this out: Inspiring teen's wish to raise funds for Hunter brain cancer research granted

Written by Anita Beaumont, and published in the Maitland Mercury News on October 29, 2021.

IT was Jemima Gazley's dream to be able to hand over a big novelty cheque charged with about $20,000 to Hunter cancer researcher Matt Dun before she died.

But while she did not get the chance to see it herself, the New Zealand teenager inspired so much more.

Associate Professor Dun accepted a cheque just short of $700,000 in New Zealand dollars on Friday morning to support his research into Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) - the cancer that claimed Jemima's life.

But that figure did not include a last minute donation of $50,000 from an anonymous New Zealand donor to RUN DIPG on Thursday.

All up, Jemima inspired almost $713,000 Australian dollars for the Hunter-based charity, RUN DIPG.

"Jemima's courage and wisdom has been all-inspiring," Troy Bailey, the general manager of RUN DIPG, said.

"We will be contributing every dollar as quickly as we can to Matt and the Dun lab and their research team so they can do what they do best.

"As Jemima's dad Oliver said, maybe Jemima is the cure. So we will give them the best opportunity to use the money she has raised to try to beat this thing.

"The money is obviously huge, but the awareness and advocacy that has come from her story and her strength is the real power, because that is what actually tells people what DIPG is and how devastating it is for families."

Between Jemima's gift and the $401,000 raised through the successful Childhood Brain Cancer Awareness Day run, more than a million dollars would be contributed to RUN DIPG research. as well.