WHEN Gail Elsey and her daughter spoke about raising funds for cancer research she never envisaged what has been achieved so far.
It started with an idea to raise money by selling 20 cent raffle tickets to build a cancer research facility in their home town of Ballarat.
More than 20 years later their dreams of finding an answer to cancer are a step closer every day.
“From small things big things grow … I look back now 20 years ago and there was nothing,” Gail Elsey said.
“I get excited about how far research has come and that’s why I do what I do.
“I have a passion for research so families don’t have to experience what we did. Research is the key to improve better outcomes.”
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Gail’s daughter Fiona lost her battle with cancer in 1991, but while she never had the chance to see the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute grow, Gail said she knows her daughter would be proud.
She said she made Elsey a promise she would never give up on the search for a cure.
“I’ll never give up until someone can walk into see a doctor and they say ‘it’s OK we have an answer’,” she said.
Until then, she said all she wants to do is provide families with hope.
“When Fiona was diagnosed the only thing that kept us going was hope.
“Hope becomes the strongest word in your vocabulary, that’s what you cling to. That’s what I want to give others.”
