NRF Summer Appeal 2022
Please donate to the NRF Summer Appeal 2022
A message from the NRF President
We understand it has been a difficult time for everyone in Australia with the COVID-19 pandemic, and the very wide range of impacts it has had on all of our lives.
The figures below emphasize how important the contributions of individuals, families and charities are to neurosurgical research. Without the support of donors like you there would not be as much research into the causes and potential cures for these terrible diseases and conditions.
Two years ago, we knew nothing of the disease which we now call COVID-19. In Australia in the last 2 years over 4,000 people have died of this disease.
75% of the persons who have died of this disease were over 65 years of age. The 2021 Federal Budget estimates indicate that it has cost the Australian Government $472 billion – that is about $18,000 for every person in Australia.
In the last two years, 3,000 people have died in Australia from a malignant primary brain tumour.
45% of these persons were over the age of 65 years which contrasts to 75% of COVID deaths. If the Federal government were to spend an equivalent amount of money on glioblastoma research, we would be spending in SA about $37 billion per year – a figure that can only be dreamed of.
The figures for stroke are even more sobering. About 10,000 people in Australia die from a stroke each year – that’s more than 20,000 deaths in the last 2 years, during the pandemic.
Stroke is the third most common cause of death in Australia and a leading cause of disability.
Please give now to continue life-saving neurosurgical research.
If either yourself, or someone you love has been impacted by a neurosurgical disease or condition, whether that is a brain tumour, a traumatic brain or spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease or a stroke, then you know how enormous the impact is on family and friends.
The cure for these conditions will not be rapid or simple – it lies within the complexities of the cells, the functions of the genes and within the biochemistry, the chemistry of life. The prevention of some of these conditions will require major societal changes and research collaborations.
Your donation to neurosurgical research is a step towards understanding these mysteries. It also causes us to reflect on all the fine people who have lost their lives to these diseases. NRF researchers are working harder and smarter to discover better treatments, and step-by-step, one day, a cure.
Thank you and we hope you will consider donating again in 2022.
Dr Glenn McCulloch
NRF President
P.S Please give generously to support life-saving neurosurgical research – when you donate to the NRF, 100% goes directly to research.
