Jane's Dream Becoming A Reality: Over 4,500 Australian Families Supported By McGrath Breast Care Nurses

Jane McGrath’s dream is taking shape with the announcement today that, since Jane’s passing in June 2008, the McGrath Foundation’s 55 McGrath Breast Care Nurses have supported over 4,500 newly  diagnosed Australian families through their breast cancer experience in communities right across Australia - over 3,000 of these families have been supported in just the past year. 

With today marking the second anniversary of the passing of Jane, there has been overwhelming support for the McGrath Foundation’s achievements from health advocacy groups, the medical community and Australian families who have gone through a breast cancer experience supported by a McGrath Breast Care Nurse. 

Jane’s best friend, the McGrath Foundation’s Tracy Bevan, believes today marks an important milestone in the Foundation’s history but is only one of many more still to come. 

“We could not be prouder of what we have achieved in Jane’s memory since she passed away in June 2008. In such a short period of time, we have multiplied our McGrath Breast Care Nurse family six fold, bringing our numbers from just six when she died up to 55. 

“Jane initially just wanted to raise money to fund her own breast care nurse at Sutherland Hospital. But as the support for the McGrath Foundation grew, and her understanding of what it was like to have a breast care nurse support a woman and her family through such a difficult period of time deepened, she realised we needed to aim higher, ensuring that every woman and her family going through a breast cancer experience in Australia would have access to a breast care nurse. 

“She would be just so proud to know how far we have come, but Jane being Jane, we all know she would keep pushing us to work harder to ensure this dream becomes a reality. It makes me so happy to know the progress we have made, but we will not stop until we achieve our ultimate goal,” said Tracy. 

Director of the Westmead Breast Cancer Institute (BCI), Prof John Boyages, believes the addition of McGrath Breast Care Nurses to the breast care nursing community has made a real difference particularly in rural and regional areas. 

“Breast care nurses are an essential member of the multidisciplinary team caring for a woman following a diagnosis of breast cancer. The McGrath Foundation has done an amazing job in identifying areas throughout Australia in need of breast care nurse support and placing McGrath Breast Care Nurses into those communities who are most in need. 

“The BCI and the McGrath Foundation have now joined forces to provide support and clinical learning opportunities for the McGrath Breast Care Nurses at Westmead Hospital,” Prof Boyages said. 

Each month, the McGrath Foundation receives extraordinarily positive feedback on the McGrath Breast Care Nurses from those families who have had their help. 

McGrath Breast Care Nurse, Jenny Treloar from Campbelltown’s Macarthur Cancer Therapy Centre, feels privileged to be involved in the care of women with breast cancer and has been active in the local community helping build support for the McGrath Foundation. 

“Being a McGrath Breast Care Nurse gives me the opportunity to work with women and their families to try and make life a little easier at what is often a very traumatic time. Plus, having the support of the extended McGrath Breast Care Nurse family means that you also never feel very isolated. 

“Every day, I’m proud to be working as a McGrath Breast Care Nurse, but on a day like today, I feel blessed to be a part of something that is having a real impact on the Australian community. It’s like a family that really bands together for the greater good and while I never met Jane, I feel that she’s still very much a part of the McGrath Foundation and everything we do,” said Jenny. 

Commenting further, Tracy was also quick to say that everyone at the McGrath Foundation knows they could not do what they do without the phenomenal support of the Australian community. 

“From Cricket Australia to V8s to NRL, from our generous Corporate Friends and our amazing Community Friends, from our Facebook Fans and Twitter followers, from our regular donors, we know that each and every way the Australian community supports us is something to be treasured. We are so fortunate that people believe in what we do and we hope we’re able to bring a bit of fun to people’s lives whilst also allowing them to support us, so we can in turn support them, their friends and family if they need it. 

“From all of us at the Foundation, we just want to use today as a way to say thank you. We live and breathe this dream Jane had and we know that we could not do what we do on our own. We’ve said it before and we’ll keep saying it - it all comes down to the fact that together, we really can make a difference.”