Voices

An inspiring couple's donation to advance breast cancer treatment

Jim and Shirley Richards on their wedding day

Thanks to Ms Ruth Bollard, a specialist breast surgeon, we were recently made aware of a wonderful gesture from the late Jim and Shirley Richards of Ballarat, Australia to support their local hospital.

Before their passing, husband and wife Jim and Shirley (pictured above) made the selfless decision to leave their entire estate to a number of charitable causes within their home town, including their specialist medical centre.

Having received great care from Ballarat Base Hospital, they were keen for others to receive the same high standard that they had, particularly in the treatment of cancer.

Ballarat Base Hospital used some of their donation to purchase a Sentimag® system and Magseed® markers, to give patients in the local area a better standard of breast cancer treatment.

When asked why they chose the Sentimag® system, Ruth said:

“From an oncoplastic breast surgeon’s perspective, the accuracy of finding the lesion and preventing taking too much unnecessary breast tissue during its removal is a significant advantage.

From our trials last year, we know that this technique is safer, better and less costly in terms of time and money for the patients and the hospital.”

Healthcare staff with donated Sentimag

Having become the first hospital in regional Victoria to adopt the platform, it is now hoped that the Ballarat Sentimag® system will pioneer the way in breast cancer treatment within the local area.

Close associate of the philanthropic couple, BJT Legal trustee Andrew Byre (pictured above with Ruth Bollard and Sandra Page of BJT Legal) said:

"I know Shirley, who died recently, would be delighted to know it's (the donation) being put to such great use."

» Read the full story here

Article originally published by Greg Gliddon for The Courier (Ballarat, VIC).

Images attributed to The Courier (Ballarat, VIC), ACM Network (1) (2)