White Shirt Campaign: Aussie celebrities support the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation

THE white shirt – a classic item of clothing. But more than that, it has the potential to save women’s lives, thanks to the Witchery White Shirt Campaign and the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation. Why else does the white shirt matter? Try these 12 reasons…
Read the full story here - Mel Evans, The Daily Telegraph, 19 April 2015.
Extract:
Ovarian cancer deserves as much support as other types of cancer
A research fellow at the Lowy Cancer Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, Dr Caroline Ford relies on donations simply to do her job.
She’s part of a worldwide team interested in both ends of the cancer spectrum: figuring out the early changes that transform a normal cell into a cancer cell and metastasis – the spreading of cancer.
As someone who works on the frontline of ovarian cancer research, she’s frustrated it doesn’t receive as much support as other cancers.
“It’s not OK that we don’t have an early detection test,” she says.
“If you compare it to a cancer such as breast cancer, which has had a huge amount of money poured into it over the past 30 years, the statistics of survival have completely changed.
“They’ve gone from a five-year survival rate for 60 per cent of women after diagnosis to now 95 per cent.
“You can see, as a researcher, that’s a direct result from investment.”
Still, Ford is optimistic we’ll develop a blood test to detect ovarian cancer in her lifetime.
“I’ve just had my first daughter and it brought home to me that I don’t want her growing up fearing ovarian cancer.
“I want to make a change for her, because when you encounter patients their question is, ‘Why? Is it something I did? Could I have prevented it?’ The answer is that we don’t know, which is why we need more research to understand the early causes.”

Show your support by attending:
White Shirt Day Morning Tea 2015
1 May 2015 - 11:00am to 12:00pm
Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation's White Shirt Day & Student Central Morning Tea 2015