“ Looking back at the last story on Jodie and Reece which was probably August last year, obviously Jodes health declined and she passed on the 1st October. Three weeks after that we had Pink Halloween. It was literally her passing, six days later her funeral and three weeks to the day was Pink Halloween. Everyone involved in the charity, not just from a family perspective but even more broadly were affected by it but knew there was a task to fulfil and got on with the job. We raised close to $60,000 on that night. Six hundred people, lots of hurdles but it all came together. We felt Jodie was very much with us.
After Halloween we moved into another first which was Pink Tradie Tuesday so we had about 500 tradies people get involved. We started with a breakfast, then a morning tea. All the tradies dressed in pink, some held their own independent events. They raised money but more importantly they raised awareness, particularly given the vast majority of those people were men. They had just as an important role in terms of promoting the early detection message as anyone else does.
The rollercoaster kept rolling. The 18th December we hosted Christmas Carols in Caniaba. Jodie wanted that to be a family event and she loved Christmas. She had Reece on the roof lighting up their home. That community got on board and even though the weather wasn’t great we had about 500 people on the oval and we finished with a fireworks spectacular. They were three enormous events post her passing. I think everyone was happy too see the end of 2016 and to start again. It was enormous, it was exhausting, it was exhilarating but the community backed us and the rest was a blur.
We announced last night that $84,000 worth of equipment will be delivered to Lismore Base Hospital in the next week. That was something Jodie wanted to happen. She wanted to be inclusive, not just private patients. She wanted public patients to have access to this equipment. Patients now have access to about $160,000 worth of equipment in St Vincent’s and LBH which we’ve raised in just 2 years. It’s a reflection of the phenomenal support from the community. What helps us is people donate to a local charity and that money stays locally. It’s important for us to show that the community see that their money supports their local community including families and friends. At the end of the day we want the best outcomes for those patients.
We’re not interested in bureaucracy that comes with health. We want results for the average men and women going through cancer treatment. The key thing around those pieces of equipment is that they provide that sense of anonymity to those who are going through cancer and they are not facing that external reminder they are sick because their hair is falling out. Already at St Vincent’s the results are incredible, not just women but also men are receiving very good results. The opportunity to keep your hair or reduce the amount of hair loss is a psychological win for those people and Jodie was always of the view it wasn’t just a physical battle but also a psychological battle. We will always work hard to deal with both sides of that coin with all that we do and the money we donate.
Moving forward Jodie’s big dream was to establish a Palliative Care house. The board and all concerned are actively looking into it. Thats a long term project as there is an enormous amount of logistics associated with it but we will look to move into that.
On the 28th October we will have the 3rd Pink Halloween event. We have 600 tickets on sale which are moving well. We’ll have lots of prizes. The whole point of the night is to raise funds but more importantly to have fun and to bring the community together particularly after the devastating effects of Debbie and the flood. It’s a community on it’s knees but it’s continued to rally. The opportunity to come together and celebrate all that’s good about the community whilst raising funds for a local charity is a win, win.
Everyone involved in the charity is a volunteer. Even sitting here today we had 15 – 20 people once again giving their Sunday up to work for this charity.
Reece. – “ We horn blasted our way into 2017 I guess. Hit the ground running. We also had our golf day after Christmas Carols which was another successful event, then Halloween. We will have another Carols at Caniaba this year.
We’re going ok. Jodie had quite an empire behind her. The people she left in place to continue on with her businesses is a credit to her and a credit to those people. Their resilience is to the next level. There’s no escaping it from our sense. It’s there 24/7. Whether it be work, the charity, the kids are there as well. It’s always there but you learn to keep pressing forward. Jodie wouldn’t want it any other way. As most people know Jodie crammed 48 hours into 24 every day she was here. Somehow she has pushed that all onto us. For better or worse, wherever she is she’s still throwing orders at us. (laughs). The kids are going good. Don’t get me wrong we’ve had tough times. You have the first of everything and we’re approaching the 12 month mark of Jodes passing. It will be a sad day but also it will be another step forward for everyone. We’ve been through the year of ‘first times’ without her. The people Jodie surrounded herself with are lifelong mates. You laugh, you cry with them but we pick each other up and get on with it as Jodie did. There no getting left behind. Jodie’s businesses are flat chat..30 plus staff. Her sister Kim, Trude who is like her sister, leanne, Kerry..all those girls work hard. Then the charity which is busy as ever. It’s all action stations.
Cancer affects so many people and people are keen to help out. I was walking down the street in my own little world and a couple of times people have stopped me who had received treatment from the ColdCap machines and the response was unreal. It’s very humbling. It makes you think all that work and time is worth it. You are helping people through the darkest and hardest days of their life. If you can do that it’s worthwhile.
Jesse – “ And that was Jodie’s focus from the beginning. Jodie moved in the direction of purchasing these cold cap machines knowing full well she would never benefit from them. It was never ever self seeking. It was all about others and that has filtered through to every aspect of the charity’s operation.
All of the results are a testament to the community support. We couldn’t do what we do without their backing. Everyone can share in the goodness and in the positivity. That to me has been an exercise in really knowing the strength and the resilience of this community.
Reece- “ Especially after the floods. Town got rattled. Dead set got wiped off its feet. We were down cleaning up as the rest of Lismore was, the town was wiped out and random strangers were walking around helping out in every way. That’s Lismore, that’s where we live and that in itself say’s enough about the place we call home. The people who live here are generous, even when they don’t have a whole lot to give. You take the monetary figure away and it’s ‘Hey I can do this or I can do that for you.”
Jesse – “Even after the flood, only 5 weeks after we had Pink Round which was a football round with Marist Bros who have been great supporters of us. We buy pink strips and auction them off with them down at Oakes Oval which was levelled in the flood. We ended up with $8,000 from that one day and that’s from a local football match after a devastating flood.”
Reece – “ People were paying up to $600 for a jersey and buying raffle tickets. It’s a massive testament to the community and without them what we do wouldn’t happen. We can sit here and say we put the hours in but we’re working for the result but they provide the result with their generosity.”
(below are the links to 2 interviews I did with Jodie) https://www.facebook.com/…/a.559195…/772321092891106/…