New fight against breast cancer
Women with breast cancer that no longer respond to treatment, have a new ally in their fight for survival.
AUSiMED – Australia-Israel Medical Research, is fundraising for a critical research project to find out why these women cease responding to treatment, in the hope that this will lead to a new treatment for them.
Roz Kaldor-Aroni, CEO of AUSiMED (Australia/Israel Medical Research), says treatment resistance for breast cancer among Ashkenazi Jews is particularly high, so the need for a solution for our community is pressing. “Ashkenazi Jews have a 1 in 40 chance of having inherited mutated genes known as BRCA1 or 2, which is a ten time higher incidence than the rest of the community,” she said.
“These mutated genes are said to create a 90% chance of causing breast cancer and this type of cancer tends to be untreatable, particularly in younger women. This is the same inherited gene that compelled Angelina Jolie to recently remove both her breasts and ovaries to prevent the likelihood of breast or ovarian cancer.
“The hope is that if we can find a cure it will prevent other women from having to take such drastic action and we will have saved lives.”
AUSiMED have engaged world leading scientists from both Melbourne and Sheba Medical Centre in Israel to work together on this important project.
To raise funds for this three-year project, AUSiMED has turned to crowd funding as they see great potential in using this social media phenomenon to fund research which resonates strongly in the Jewish community.
In a variation to the way crowdfunding typically works, supporters will receive a tax-deductible receipt instead of a gift if the campaign reaches its advertised target of $20,000 by 28 June. Supporters will also have the option of receiving a refund of their donation if the target isn’t reached.
This type of fundraising has become popular to support social enterprises and innovative product ideas but isn’t used often for medical research.
“The community has started getting behind our crowd funding campaign. We have raised almost $8,000 but we still have some way to go to reach our target” said Ms Kaldor-Aroni.
The campaign can be found at www.ausimed.org/support-breast-cancer-research.html
It ends on 28 June, 2015.
