A TEACHER who inspired thousands of Ballarat students in her lifetime is being remembered through a fundraising campaign for cancer research.
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Ballarat High School's Michele Riethoff lost a long battle with breast cancer last month.
In response, Science and Maths faculty members at the school have started a GoFundMe campaign which has already raised thousands of dollars for research.
One of the campaign organisers Elizabeth Kent said it was something the school community could do to support the memory of the beloved teacher.
"We thought we'd try and raise a bit of money as a faculty and donate a bit of money to cancer research in Michele's name," Ms Kent said.
"Michele had a number of leadership roles within the school and she was there for a lot of people. She would have taught thousands of students over the years."
Ms Kent said the breast cancer was "quite a long haul" for Ms Riethoff, but she never complained.
"We've had people say how they were talking to her the week before she died, they have been just flawed. I know a lot of our ex-students are just finding out now," she said.
"Michele was a person who had such a big impact on people's lives."
Ms Kent said it was hoped money raised could be donated to research but could also be used to assist the St John of God oncology unit which looked after Ms Riethoff in her final weeks.
"When we were setting up the GoFundMe, we thought we'd aim for something like $500, but it was shared on social media and it's gone viral to be over $4000 now," she said.
"It goes to show that people have heart. There's a lot of us who were feeling helpless in recent months, it's something proactive we can do and we're just so thrilled that so many people are getting behind this."
If you wish to donate to the fundrasier go to https://www.gofundme.com/f/michele-riethoff
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