24 Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation Striving to be the best Yearly Highlights EOFY During the year, the OCRF featured a number of new community Ambassadors including Charmaine Suter who shared her story as part of the EOFY Appeal. Charmaine was first diagnosed with a 15cm borderline tumour in her left ovary in 2016. She was in her late 20s, and it was bloating and heartburn that were the first signs that something was not quite right. In 2019, doctors discovered the tumour had returned, and it was no longer classified as borderline, but rather cancerous. From there, Charmaine endured multiple surgeries and lost her left ovary. In late 2020, scans revealed that not only did Charmaine have a new tumour on her right ovary, but that the cancer had begun to spread. More surgeries and a brutal regime of chemotherapy have since followed. Raising funds to support OCRF research and raising awareness of this insidious disease are important elements of Charmaine’s #BlowAKissForHer agenda – to date she has raised almost $20,000 and her website shares important information. The OCRF was able to power up the appeal due to the generous support of Digga Australia who dollar matched $90,000 worth of community donations. Digga’s support was in memory of CEO, Suzie Wright, who lost her fight with ovarian cancer in 2018. Digga’s matching giving was led by Suzie’s daughter, Zoe, now Deputy CEO of the company, who took to social media with a series of videos to inspire a huge uplift in donations. The Lab The OCRF launched its new regular giving program, The Lab, in February to coincide with Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The Lab heroes our researchers and invites donors to become an integral part of the team by providing the sustained funding needed to keep researchers spending more time in their labs and less time writing grant applications. The launch during Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month highlighted the opportunity for the ovarian cancer community to become more actively involved in the ovarian cancer solution, as a next step from raising awareness. More than 150 foundation members of The Lab signed up for regular giving in February, taking the number of regular contributors to over 200. To date, Charmaine’s #Blowakissforher initiative has raised almost $20,000 and her website shares more ovarian cancer information. Join the LAB Join the LAB