The Fight Cancer Foundation is the marketing and fundraising arm of the Bone Marrow Donor Institute. It is a registered charity dedicated to providing treatment, research, care and support for people with leukaemia and other forms of cancer. It relies on the support of the community, supporters, donors, volunteers, government, corporate partners and all Australians to continue its life-saving work.
The Bone Marrow Donor Institute was founded in 1989 by a group of families who had experienced first hand the devastation of leukaemia. With the aim of establishing a bone marrow donor registry and finding a cure for leukaemia, the Institute broadened its’ scope to include a number of programs which support patients with leukaemia and other forms of cancer. The aims of these include:
- Increasing awareness of the Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry and encouraging donors from diverse ethnic backgrounds who are under represented on the registry to join.
- Continuing to encourage pregnant women to donate their umbilical cord blood to the BMDI Cord Blood Bank, which provides rich stem cells for the treatment of leukaemia in children and adults.
- Providing funding for research into better treatment methods, early detection tests and prevention.
- Providing support groups for patients, families and carers.
- Providing accommodation for patients and their families from rural, interstate and overseas, during their long-term treatment.
- Helping children fighting cancer get back on track after treatment or surgery by providing educational, physical and emotional rehabilitation and support programs.
The focus of our work is projects that are particularly related to cancer, leukaemia and other diseases of the blood.