Lumen Winter 2014 - Flipbook - Page 32
story by Ge n e vie ve Sa n ch e z
A lifetime of service
to charity
The tragedy of losing
five children to cystic
fibrosis fuelled Jean
Dunlop’s lifetime
commitment to support
research into childhood
disease prevention.
J
ean and husband Hugh discovered
they were carriers of the fatal disease
with the diagnosis of their first child
Helen. She died at just two years of age
along with newborn twins Hugh and Jean,
11-year-old David, and Joanne, aged 23.
When Joanne was in the later stages
of the disease, she suggested they open
a second-hand shop to raise money for
research. For more than 20 years Jean
continued to run the shop and in 1992
was awarded the Medal of the Order of
Australia (OAM) for service to the Cystic
Fibrosis Association.
“She was a strong, determined person,”
says Gloria Kirk, Jean’s niece. “You
would never have known that she had
suffered those tragedies – she was always
laughing and happy.”
And she kept giving. The year before
she died Jean saw a TV news item
about the work of the first Florey Fellow,
Dr Annette Osei-Kumah, who was
undertaking research into improving the
health of pregnant asthmatic women.
It struck a chord with Jean as an
important area of research that would
benefit pregnant mothers and their babies.
She decided that her legacy should be
directed towards the Florey Medical
Research Foundation.
In 2012, her bequest directly benefited
postdoctoral researcher Dr Kathleen
Pishas who is researching therapeutic
treatments for Ewing sarcoma—a
very rare, solid bone cancer that
disproportionally affects the young.
“It’s so aggressive, patients have to
go through 42 weeks of chemotherapy,
with up to seven different drugs, followed
by surgery and sometimes radiation,”
says Kathleen.
Postdoctoral researcher,
Dr Kathleen Pishas
We can only
make little footsteps
but with the
generosity of the
community we can
really make leaps
and strides.
3 0 Lumen | Winter 2014
Left: Jean Dunlop
“I don’t see what I do as a job, I see
it as a cause—my aim is to leave my
footprint and know that I had a purpose.
We can only make little footsteps but
with the generosity of the community we
can really make leaps and strides.”
Professor David Callen, Director of the
Centre for Personalised Cancer Medicine,
says they are grateful for bequests
and donations that allow them to keep
researchers like Kathleen on board.
“We are the only group in Australia
researching Ewing sarcoma and we live
or die on grants, but the rarer cancers
don’t have a high profile when it comes
to funding,” he says.
As a result of the Fellowship, Kathleen
will continue her postdoctoral research
into Ewing sarcoma at an overseas
posting later this year.
Please help
us to continue
our work
A gift or bequest, no matter how
large or small, is an effective way of
advancing medical research—a gift
that creates something of everlasting
significance and importance. The
Florey Medical Research Foundation
welcomes gifts and bequests of all
sizes and these may be directed to
a specific area of research.
For bequests:
Contact the University of Adelaide’s
Planned Giving Officer Sue Fox
on +61 8 8313 3234, email
susan.fox@adelaide.edu.au or visit
www.alumni.adelaide.edu.au/bequests
For gifts:
Contact the Florey Medical Research
Foundation on +61 8 8313 3995
or visit www.florey.adelaide.edu.au
