"Dry July" Fundraiser for Malaghan Institute, for our friend, Dr. Tim McKenzie.

A very dear friend, Tim McKenzie, was diagnosed with the invasive brain cancer, GLIOBLASTOMA, in September last year. Glioblastoma is the second most common central nervous system cancer after meningioma, and the prognosis was grim from the outset with the most common length of survival being 12 to 15 months.

Tim, his wife Deb and their amazing adult children, Matt, Lucy and Olivia have characteristically faced this challenge courageously since his emergency surgery immediately after diagnosis, through radiotherapy and chemotherapy; palliative care in the closing stages of his life at Mary Potter Hospice and finally his death on 10 July 2018.

As a GP Partner at Newlands Medical Centre, Tim was a man who dedicated his life to helping others. Watching Tim's physical and mental decline as this invasive cancer took hold over the past few months has been heartbreaking.

My name is Steph Forrest and I work at Victoria University in the Property Services team and we share a tearoom and work just down the hallway from a very dedicated bunch of people at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research .

Within Malaghan, brain health research, including Glioblastoma, sits within their Cancer Cell Biology Group. Their research applies new knowledge and methodologies about cells, cell systems and more complex tissues and organs to the treatment of human diseases with a particular emphasis on cancer and diseases involving altered energy metabolism. Despite many discoveries and breakthroughs with broader cancer research, no cure for Glioblastoma has yet been discovered.

It occurred to me that this year, I could embrace “Dry July” and make a very small sacrifice by giving up my daily wine (or two!) for the month and fundraise, on behalf of Tim, for Malaghan’s brain health research programme.

I hope that the funds we raise may go some way to contributing to these dedicated research scientists discovering a cure for this particularly cruel brain cancer and prevent other families from having to go through the anguish of the McKenzie family.