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Welcome to our new website

Oct 2016 | Archives

Welcome to the new Cure The Future website.

As well as being Fully-Responsive – so it will work on your SmartPhone or Tablet, we have some brand new content and some great features to help make it even easier to help Cure The Future. It is also linked to our Facebook page and Twitter, so you can see the latest news about what’s going on in our Social Media.

The improved ‘About Us‘ section has some information about Cure The Future, the People behind it – and helps explain the Cell and Gene Therapy we support. It also provides some insights into some of the 4000 Diseases we expect it to help cure.

Our ‘Research‘ area shows you where the funds we have raised over the years have been spent – on Laboratory Equipment, Fellowships for Research Scientists, as well as some of the projects we have funded. It also has our ‘Wishlist‘ – so you can see the items still needed by the labs to help them find a cure for cancers & other inherited diseases.

Most importantly, we have expanded our ‘Donations‘ section to focus on 3 areas of Giving – ourselves, our family and our work.

The introduction of the Cure The Future ‘Family’ reminds us that the work we do is all about the future good health of coming generations of our Families – and the need to find a cure for inherited disease.

So there are some new ways families can help us Cure The Future – ‘In Memory‘ provides a way to create a special page ‘In Memory’ of a loved one you have lost – where friends and family can visit to post a memory and make a donation to Cure The Future in their honour.

Our new ‘Celebrate‘ page is an opportunity for your family and friends to celebrate a special family occasion, like a Wedding or a Birth – with a donation to help find a cure for the inherited diseases which run in families everywhere.

‘Giving Time‘ is our new donation option for those who prefer to give up their time to support us – and some of the ways you can do that.

And our great A-Z of Fundraising presents lots of fun new ways you can help Cure The Future, by raising funds with your family and friends, at work or in your local community.

In the coming weeks we will be introducing a new payment system through PayPal and hope to be adding some pages In Memory and Celebration.

We hope to see you visiting our website again – and encouraging those around you to do the same.

Thank you for visiting.

Cure The Future Family

In Memory of Bryce Courtenay

Sep 2016 | Archives

Bryce Courteney

Bryce Courtenay AM

14th August 1933 – 22nd November 2012

Bryce Courtenay wrote 21 books in 23 years and at the time of his death he was Australia’s biggest selling writer.

Bryce believed that good writing included ‘a bellyful of laughs and a bucketful of tears’, and in some ways that phrase reflected the story of his own life.

Born in South Africa to Maude Greer he only found out the name of his father when he was a teenager having also endured time in an orphanage. This experience provided much of the material for his first novel ‘The Power of One’ published in 1989 and which went on to become an international best seller. He managed to move on from this difficult start in life by winning a scholarship to the ‘posh’ King Edward V11 School in Johannesburg.

During the tensions of the apartheid regime in he felt compelled to leave South Africa and ended up in London where he met his first wife Benita Solomon. Arriving in Australia in the 1950s they went on to have three children, Brett, Adam and Damon.  Bryce quickly embraced his new country and made a hugely successful career in advertising, winning countless industry awards. 

Tragically in 1991 his son Damon, who was born with the blood condition haemophilia, died of medically acquired aids which later became the subject of a moving book titled ‘April Fool’s Day’.

For the rest of his life Bryce continued on with what he called his ‘second career’ as a full time writer. He was especially interested in the impact of war on Australia’s national psyche, and many novels brought Australian history to life. To this day millions of readers around the world continue to enjoy his extraordinary literary legacy.

Bryce was known as much for his philanthropy and generosity of spirit as he was for his writing.  From the outset he found Professor John Rasko’s vision for gene cell medical research to be both visionary and an inspiration. He always felt privileged to be one of the first patron’s of ‘Cure the Future’ and delighted in listening to John’s news of the latest developments in his ongoing research.

Bryce’s second wife, Christine Gee, AM (a pioneer in adventure travel) shares Bryce’s passion for philanthropy, and continues to be a very proud supporter of ‘Cure the Future’.

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This mosaic image of Bryce has been created using photos from the Cure The Future family album.

It is in loving memory – and to help remind us that we are all connected.

Bryce Courtney Mosaic

Cure The Future News

Sep 2016 | Archives

Special News

In this section we will be displaying news items – recent interviews with John Rasko, new events or announcements from the research team. It can also be used to promote special requests and merchandise offers or to promote our sponsors involvement.

Giving Time

Aug 2016 | Archives

Giving Time

Time is Money.

As well as the valuable funds needed to facilitate the equipment and researchers needed to pursue the cure for inherited diseases , the work of Cure The Future relies upon the donation of people’s time. Whether it’s helping organise an Event or making a commitment to give regular time at the office, we need your help to Cure The Future.

FundRaising

Fundraising is at the heart of our family charity – the help needed at our fundraising events includes arranging items for auctions, selling tickets or tables, promoting raffle tickets or just welcoming guests as they arrive. Become part of the Cure The Future family and do your bit.

Organise Events

A great way to raise funds and awareness of the work we do is to organise a small event of your own. As well as events that are related to a particular family loss or diagnosis, we are planning a series of smaller Family picnic events which we need help with – so get your family and friends involved in helping support this worthwhile cause.

Donate Time

Everyone has something they can bring to the party. Whether making a regular commitment to do some photocopying or data entry – or packing promotional materials, every bit helps. Decide how much time you have to offer and what skills, experiences and abilities you can add to the team.

Your generous donation of time and skill will help Cure The Future maximise our efforts in raising money and increasing awareness of our vital research.

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Stem Cell Tourism

Mar 2016 | Archives

Stem Cell Tourism

THE AUSTRALIAN

Stem cell ‘tourists’ flock to Australia

JOHN ROSS THE AUSTRALIAN –  August 5, 2016

Medical tourism based around questionable, potentially dangerous stem cell techniques has migrated from the Third World to the First World, with Australia boasting one of the biggest proliferations of hard-sell clinics.

A global study has found Australia easily surpasses medical tourism hot spots such as Thailand in the number of stem cell practices marketing services directly to customers.

The study, published this morning in the journal Cell Stem Cell, found clinics in developed countries were exploiting regul atory gaps to make “an extraordinary and implausible range of claims for their offerings”.

The news has emerged weeks after a coroner slammed a Sydney cosmetic surgeon’s exper – imental stem cell therapy, which caused the death of Alzheimer’s disease patient Sheila Drysdale, as “quack” medicine.

“People think you’ve got to fly to Russia, The Philippines or somewhere like that to do your stem cell tourism,” said senior auth or John Rasko of the University of Sydney.

“Overwhelmingly, the US has the largest preponderance of these clinics, (and) advanced economies like Australia, Germany and Italy are now offering these dubious procedures.”

Professor Rasko said the study, which tallied clinics offering their services online in English, was easily the biggest of its type. On a per-capita basis, Australia had more clinics than the US: only Ireland, Singapore and the tax havens of the Cayman Islands and Bahamas had more.

Anti-ageing and skincare procedures were the most common therapies offered, but clinics were vague about the types of stem cells being used, with more than half not indicating a source.

In June, news emerged of an American stroke victim developing a tumour in his back after stem cell treatments overseas.

Professor Rasko said more such cases were inevitable. “This is an unfettered industry … not properly regulated and this direct-to-consumer marketing will only get worse unless regulators hear this wake-up call.”

In March, the Australian Academy of Science called for the closing of a regulatory loophole that allows “autologous” stem cell procedures using patients’ own cells.