GAIL Elsey lives her life with the attitude that if you have a dream, or if you really want something, then with the right support, you make it happen.<\/p>\n
When Mrs Elsey and her husband Greg were raising their three children in Delacombe, then a new suburb with no facilities, with friends she formed the Delacombe Community Group.<\/p>\n
They petitioned the government to establish a kindergarten for the growing area and raised funds by doorknocking and hosting coffee mornings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe kindergarten was built, and our daughter Fiona got to go to kinder,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A decade later, at just 13 years old, Fiona was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, and had cancer treatment at the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to build strength to be able to cope with the fear of the unknown and to survive,\u201d Mrs Elsey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Fiona\u2019s treatment progressed we went to the laboratory and Fiona saw a Ewing’s sarcoma cell under a microscope.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe knew she had received the benefits of research and wanted to do something to help others in the same position, so we came back to Ballarat and formed a group to fundraise to support that work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Elseys began to raise funds in 1991, with an aim to bring a cancer research lab to Ballarat, and this movement grew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn 1991, Fiona passed away,\u201d Mrs Elsey said. \u201cShe had said, \u2018mum, you have to help [oncologist Professor George Kannourakis] because one day, he\u2019s going to find a breakthrough.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cI promised her, on her death bed, that I would never give up fighting for cancer research, and that the whole world, one day, would know that she wanted to see cancer research in her own town.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe established a group in Ballarat, Cancer in Children and Adults Association, because George had moved here to start his practice, and we wanted to see Fiona\u2019s vision become a reality.\u201d<\/p>\n
Through grassroots efforts, lots of presentations to groups, and a concert, about $100,000 was raised for a local laboratory, and by 1997, \u201cit was happening.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute, led by Professor Kannourakis, had its first facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe nuns at St John of God Hospital gave George a disused paint shed in the boiler house with a big crack across the concrete floor,\u201d Mrs Elsey said.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was horrified but I was over the moon because it was going to happen.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the seven years we\u2019d seen it almost come to a standstill, but every time that happened, I was more determined not to give up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kept my word; I was Fiona\u2019s voice. In the end, I knew it would help everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
In February of 1998, the lab opened with one microscope, and 26 years later, the Fiona Elsey Cancer Research Institute is a leading facility, based in Ballarat\u2019s CBD.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the only institute of its kind in regional Australia and employs 30 people.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe heart of the institute is the people,\u201d Mrs Elsey said. \u201cThe researchers are skilled, dedicated, passionate, they\u2019re doing great research, and it\u2019s helping so many people.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love them dearly and they work really hard. Patients are providing tissue, we have a tumour bank, and Fiona\u2019s tissue is still stored there.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to see people have quality of life, better treatments, and new less-invasive treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirty-three years after Fiona\u2019s death, Mrs Elsey knows that with belief, faith, hope, and teamwork, \u201canything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLife is a gift, it\u2019s precious, and we\u2019re here to give and love. If we help one another, there\u2019s always a good outcome,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have been able to do what I have without the support of my family: Greg, Mark and David.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re also very fortunate in Ballarat to have a very giving community.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mrs Elsey was on the FECRI board from 2004 to 2011 and is a life governor of the organisation.<\/p>\n
She was named Ballarat\u2019s Citizen of the Year in 1998, and assisted with the launch of the St John of God Healthcare Foundation the same year.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I\u2019ve done in my life has made me truly happy,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s from giving.\u201d<\/p>\n
For all this and more, Gail Elsey is being inducted into the Zonta Club of Ballarat\u2019s Great Women Honour Roll.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
GAIL Elsey lives her life with the attitude that if you have a dream, or if you really want something, then with the right support, you make it happen. When Mrs Elsey and her husband Greg were raising their three children in Delacombe, then a new suburb with no facilities, with friends she formed the […]<\/p>\n