History

Children's Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA) was originally known as The Children's Leukaemia and Cancer Foundation and was founded in May 1976 by a dedicated group of parents and doctors of children with cancer.

1975 was a very difficult year for the Kasses family from Childers, Queensland and the Lough family from Wollongong, New South Wales. Jack and Annette Kasses' daughter Helen, and John and Margaret Lough's son Robbie, had been diagnosed with Leukaemia and life had been thrown into chaos. Helen and Robbie were being treated at Sydney Children's Hospital, Sydney. While it was clear that the doctors were doing all they could to cure the children in their care, it seemed that very little was being done anywhere in Australia to conduct research into the phenomenon of childhood cancer. The need for such research was clear. Hundreds of children were being diagnosed with cancer every year and only half were being cured with the treatments available.

Following the loss of his son, John Lough approached his Club, the Apex Club, Wollongong to raise money for research into childhood cancer. The campaign became a national Apex effort, the 'Help a Kid Make it' campaign with a target of $1 million to facilitate research into childhood cancer.

Today, we remain the only independant medical research institute in the country devoted to research into the causes, prevention and cure of childhood cancer. Throughout our existence our vision has remained unchanged, to save the lives of all children with cancer and to eliminate their suffering.

First established as a Foundation that funded the few, small research projects then being undertaken, CCIA opened its own research laboratories in 1984. Since that time, the Institute has grown to employ over 150 staff and students, and has established a national and international reputation for scientific excellence.

Prior to the 1960s, childhood cancer was almost always fatal. Today, as a result of enormous advances in medical research, the survival rate has risen to 70 percent. However, three out of every ten children with cancer do not survive. These are the children that CCIA strives to save.

The CCIA logo began as a photograph of Joshua Barry. At age 16 months, two months after a series of vague symptoms, Joshua was diagnosed with an aggressive form of Neuroblastoma.

By the time Joshua was diagnosed, it had spread from his adrenal gland, the site at which Neuroblastoma begins to grow, and was very close to major blood vessels. Joshua's doctors removed most of the tumour, but couldn't remove all of it.

He was started on an intensive chemotherapy regime, but unfortunately, two months into treatment, his body could no longer cope. Whilst the treatment was killing the cancer cells, it was also killing his white blood cells making him unable to fight off infection. Joshua became so sick that the doctors treating him needed to stop his chemotherapy. Within the short period of time that the treatment was stopped, Joshua's tumour had grown again, only this time, it had mutated into something that the doctors had never seen before and was growing rapidly.

Just before his second birthday, Joshua passed away. His mother, Kathryn asked to share her story to help CCIA raise awareness of the reality of childhood cancer and help us to raise vital funds needed to achieve our mission of finding a cure for all children with cancer and eliminate their suffering.

Joshua's image, our logo, was taken by a Sydney Morning Herald photographer one day at Sydney Children's Hospital, Australia while he was playing with a toy aeroplane. It was seen by staff at CCIA and became a symbol that drives our passionate researchers to find a cure for childhood cancer.