Generous donation to cancer research

It is Kara Isaac’s wish that the $90,000 donation her family is giving towards cancer research by the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute will enable another family to have something hers missed, and that is more time with their loved one.

Kara’s sister, Melody Collins, was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive bile duct cancer, chalangio carsanoma, in 2019 while living in Australia.

“They gave her two years and she died 15 months later in the middle of Covid,” Kara says.

From Churton Park, Kara is thankful the Australian government granted compassionate border entry for her and her brother and parents to travel and support Melody, especially when so many people were unable to be with their loved ones in their final days.

“After MIQ I had nine days with her before she died, but she died much earlier than anticipated.

“We would have given everything we had for six more months with Mel, especially for her kids who were all under ten.”

Melody had just turned 32 and left behind a husband and three young children.

“One of the things that became apparent to us is that, even in Australia where they have access to more medicines, there is such a lack of research into particularly rare and aggressive terminal cancers.”

Wanting to do something purposeful, Kara initially focused on palliative care and six months after Melody died raised $11,000 for Mary Potter Hospice by completing a half marathon.

A friend then told Kara about Gillies McIndoe and the work it was doing using repurposed drugs (off-patent, low-cost and proven medications), alongside traditional cancer treatment, to treat glioblastoma.

She heard the research was struggling for funding.

“Lots of people are campaigning for new and very expensive drugs and here’s this research that could cost potentially hardly anything at all and make a huge difference for people,” Kara says.

“And the truth is this research is never going to be funded by pharmaceutical companies because using off patent drugs means there is almost no money in it for them.”

Kara and her husband, Josh, decided they wanted to support Gillies McIndoe’s work.

“We could have put it on the mortgage or towards the kids’ education, but we decided that we wanted to do something bigger than just us in Mel’s memory that would also contribute to New Zealand people, New Zealand research and make a difference.”

The Melody Collins Memorial Scholarship is the result.

It is valued at $30,000 per year for three years and Gillies McIndoe PhD student Jasmine White is the recipient.

Jasmine will research glioblastoma tumours, grow organoids (mini brains) and examine metabolism and how the tumour feeds itself. She will also investigate if the tumour uses specific nutrients to grow and how they may be targeted to help slow or stop tumour growth.

“Mel would be mortified that there’s a whole scholarship named after her. She never sought attention.

“She was all about quietly paying it forward and using the resources she had to help other people.

“But she would also hope that this research will one day help other people with aggressive and terminal cancer have more time with the people that they love,” Kara says.

In late April Kara Isaac and her parents, Kim and Sue Bonnevie, visited Gillies McIndoe and met with the Melody Collins Memorial Scholarship recipient Jasmine White, where they also unveiled a plaque that recognises the Isaac family’s generosity and the scholarship.