Thanks to people’s generous support, last year CMRI Gerringong raised more than $9000 for Jeans for Genes day – this year they hope to do even better.
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The Jeans for Genes denim quilt raffle and Trivia Night on Friday, August 4 at the Gerroa Boat Fisherman’s Club will be popular features of the campaign.
“The story of CMRI in Gerringong is a well know story, because it began in 1959 when local mum Dorothy Bailey had a very ill child who couldn’t be cured by doctors,” secretary of the CMRI Gerringong committee Lorraine Peade said.
“It was suggested by a professor that the two best things Dorothy could do was to bring her child home and look after him at home and also to start up a fundraising group to support research because that would be the answer in the long run for other children in the same situation.”
CMRI Gerringong committee has raised $1.95 million since it began and the trivia night will help the group add to the tally.
It is amazing and it’s a tribute to the fantastic support in the Gerringong community.
- Lorraine Peade
“It is amazing and it’s a tribute to the fantastic support in the Gerringong community,” Mrs Peade said.
Prizes on the night include:
- A two-night accommodation stay at any Wyndham Hotel or Resort in Australia or New Zealand.
- One-night accommodation plus breakfast at the Mercure Gerringong.
- High Tea for two at the Mercure Gerringong.
- A $50 gift Voucher for Laird’s Custom framing and Fine Art.
- A 2017/18 Entertainment Book as well as lots of prizes and give aways.
This year’s denim quilt was designed by Willi Harley and made by Willi and her fellow members of the Kiama Quilters Guild who donated the unique work for raffle.
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The denim, vibrant reds and Japanese pieces create a stunning combination that would enhance any room. Cleverly created and beautifully made, it will appeal to all ages.
The quilt will be on display at Gerringong IGA on July 28 – 29 and August 3 – 4.
As well as distributing merchandise to local businesses, schools and individual supporters, the group will have a stall at Shellharbour Square and IGA Gerringong.
Tickets for the Trivia Night are $20 per person and are available from Cronin’s Liquor.
You can organise for a table of up to 10 people or buy a single ticket and organisers will add you to a table.
About children’s cancer research
Cancer occurs when cells from a person's body grow out of control.
Our bodies are made up of trillions of cells, each performing an important function, like lung cells helping us breathe and muscle cells helping us move our arms and legs. These cells wear out and need to be replaced, so copies are made through a process called cell division. Errors can occur during this copying process, errors in the DNA called mutations. DNA contains the blueprint for building a cell and even a whole person, so when there is a mutation it can cause serious problems. One type of problem is cancer.
Most cells in the body have an inbuilt STOP signal that tells them when to stop dividing. For example, skin cells divide approximately 20 times and then they stop. This is important as we need to replace our skin cells; we lose them all the time. Cancer cells, however, can divide 100’s to 1000’s of times, forming tumours that interfere with the normal functioning of the body.
Scientists have found that one of the ways in which cancer cells keep on dividing is for them to maintain the ends of their chromosomes, and these ends are called “telomeres”. Normally these telomeres are gradually lost until they become too short and the cells stop dividing.
Cancer cells counteract the loss of telomeres using:
- Telomerase activity or
- ALT (Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres) mechanism
Telomerase is an enzyme that is active in embryos and foetuses during development. It enables us to develop from a single one-celled embryo into an individual with trillions of cells. Abnormal telomerase activity in cancer cells enables adult cells to continue to divide and form tumours. It is estimated that around 85% of cancer cells have telomerase activity.
ALT is another way by which cancer cells maintain their telomeres. These cells can be identified by ALT-associated bodies seen in the nucleus of tumour cells and stained with a special dye. Approximately 15% of tumour cells use the ALT mechanism to become immortal.
These mechanisms of tumour growth and development are being studied by the Cancer Research Unit, Cell Biology Unit, Telomere Length Regulation Group, and Genome Integrity Group at Children’s Medical Research Institute. These groups of researchers are trying different approaches to understand the processes around telomeres, which will be important for the development of new treatments for cancer.
The Cell Cycle Unit also studies cancer, but they look at how cells divide. They have found several genes important for this process and are currently developing drugs targeted against dynamin as a new treatment for brain cancers.