Our Achievements

The Rainbows for Kate has donated well over $1 million to fund research into Sarcoma Cancers. We have done this primarily through two internationally based studies, the Rainbows for Kate ASKS (now called the ISKS) and the EE08 Study. We have also funded several valuable PhD studies into Sarcoma over many years and have also proudly supported many community–based initiatives for cancer sufferers.

International Sarcoma Kindred Study (ISKS)

Rainbows for Kate Foundation’s first priority was to see what we could do to make the biggest difference in the field of Sarcoma cancers. We were directed to Associate Professor David Thomas, a renowned Sarcoma cancer specialist who was working out of the Peter Mac hospital in Melbourne. Much of the research on cancers of all types revolves around the genetics of the disease. So in order for research to be undertaken into Sarcoma cancers we needed information about the genetics of Sarcoma cancer patients and their families.

In 2009 under the direction of Professor Thomas, Rainbows for Kate provided funding for what has now become an international collection of data about the genetics of Sarcoma cancers. This study was originally called the Rainbows for Kate Australian Sarcoma Kindred Study but is now known as the International Sarcoma Kindred Study. This study has created a world–first database of information that is now used by doctors and scientists all over the world to draw on for their research into Sarcoma cancers.

Rainbows for Kate contributed over $800,000 to this study over several years and it is testament to the importance and success of the study that Cancer Australia then assumed funding for the following 3 years of the study.

EE08 Study

Following the success of the ISKS and the takeover of the funding by Cancer Australia, Rainbows for Kate looked for the next way we could make a difference to fight Sarcoma cancer. Following the path of other cancer research it was an obvious choice to investigate how we could fund drug trials for treatment of Sarcoma cancers in an effort to give patients more time and better options.

An international study was already underway in parts of Europe and the US trialling drugs for treating newly diagnosed Sarcoma patients. In 2014 Rainbows for Kate committed to funding an extension of this study within Australia and New Zealand. We currently have 9 hospitals registered to participate in the study and have a total of 16 patients signed up to the drug trials. There are over 1000 patients internationally now involved in the study.

To date we have donated $350,000 towards this study and have committed to continued funding for the next 3 years.

Other Achievements

2009 – Funding for first double hospital bed at Sacred Heart Hospice for terminally ill patients so that families can be with their loved ones

2010 – Funding for new mattresses for all hospital beds at the Sacred Heart Hospice

2011 – Funding for the first Post Doctorate level 3–year scholarship into Sarcoma research

2013 – Funding for second Post Doctorate level 3–year scholarship into Sarcoma research

2013 – Donated a Ford Focus car to the Sacred Heart Hospice for community nurses to use to treat terminally ill patients at their own homes