Giving life: The research, resilience and hope behind The Hospital Research Foundation Group
From breakthrough treatments to better survivorship outcomes, The Hospital Research Foundation Group’s Giving Day is helping ensure more Australians not only survive cancer, but live well beyond it.
For Adelaide mother-of-two Angelica-Hazel Toutounji, life changed in an instant.
Even though she sensed something was not quite right, cancer was never something she expected to hear.
“Finding out I had breast cancer was the scariest experience of my life,” she says. “My first reaction was to tackle things head on, put on a brave face and take it one step at a time.”
What followed was a gruelling treatment journey involving chemotherapy, immunotherapy, surgery and radiation – a process that tested her physically, emotionally and spiritually.
“My initial treatment started with the harshest chemo on the market, known as the ‘red devil’,” she says. “It made me feel weak, nauseous and left me with no hair despite cold capping to try to preserve my locks.”
Angelica-Hazel says there were moments she felt “frozen by fear, lost and in utter disbelief”, but her focus remained firmly on her young family.
“My biggest fear was not having the chance to watch my children grow up, being away from my husband and living a life half lived,” she says.
“Ultimately I didn’t have time to wallow. I had to get up each morning and tackle things because I had two little girls who needed me. They were my reason to fight and they still are.”
You might like
Today, after receiving the life-changing news she was cancer free, Angelica-Hazel is using her experience to advocate for the power of medical research through The Hospital Research Foundation Group’s Giving Day campaign.
“Utter gratitude and tears of joy,” she says of the moment she learned she was cancer free. “My faith got me through the journey and gave me strength along the way.”
Working as a women’s health and fertility nutritionist, Angelica-Hazel’s career is deeply connected to helping others create healthy futures.
“My cancer journey has taught me that life can change in an instant and to not take your health for granted,” she says. “Health truly is your greatest wealth.”
She believes research is what gave her the opportunity to see her daughters grow up.
“I chose to become an ambassador with The Hospital Research Foundation Group because I believe strongly in the power of research and science,” she says. “Research saves lives.”
Her advocacy has become even more personal after losing her mother earlier this year, following a long battle with metastatic breast cancer.
“We need cancer research to give women like my mum a fighting chance,” she says.
Angelica-Hazel was treated with the breakthrough breast cancer drug Herceptin, a treatment developed through decades of medical research.
“Twenty-plus years ago, women with my kind of cancer didn’t have this option and the prognosis was very poor,” she says. “Cancer research made this drug possible.”
That need for ongoing research is something Professor Bogda Koczwara AM understands deeply.
A leading Australian cancer survivorship researcher, Professor Koczwara says the growing number of cancer survivors highlights the urgent need for continued research and support services.
“There are approximately 1.6 million cancer survivors in Australia,” she says.
“Multiple concerns including physical, psychological and practical challenges, as well as higher risk of future problems such as unemployment and chronic disease, are common.”
Professor Koczwara says survivorship research plays a critical role in improving outcomes long after treatment ends.
“We need to understand the burden of survivorship at population level to deliver equitable outcomes, understand mechanisms behind problems that survivors experience, develop targeted solutions and test these solutions at scale,” she says.
Through support from The Hospital Research Foundation Group, Professor Koczwara and her colleagues at the Southern Adelaide Local Health Network are researching innovative ways to improve quality of life for cancer survivors.
“THRFG supports research into innovative solutions that matter to survivors and are often informed by survivors themselves – this allows me to target my research to what matters to survivors,” she says.
For Professor Koczwara, who’s also recently been appointed Director of the Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship, a partnership between Cancer Council NSW and University of NSW, cancer survivorship is an issue that touches almost everyone.
“Cancer affects all of us – as patients, caregivers and friends,” she says.
The Hospital Research Foundation Group’s Giving Day campaign aims to fund vital research that gives people not only longer lives, but better lives.
Importantly, every public donation made during Giving Day on June 11, from 9am to 9pm local time, will be matched by generous donors, doubling the impact of community support.
“If you have been touched by cancer and have a few dollars to spare, I can’t recommend donating to THRFG more,” Angelica-Hazel says. “It’s a great opportunity to make a big impact and fight cancer as a collective.”
Learn more and donate here.
Want to see more stories from InDaily SA in your Google search results?
- Click here to set InDaily SA as a preferred source.
- Tick the box next to "InDaily SA". That's it.
