Elle's journey

Elle Halliwell, a reporter with The Daily Telegraph, discovered she had chronic myeloid leukaemia 48 hours before she found out she was pregnant.

In a bid to find a way to keep their baby, Elle and her husband consulted Professor Tim Hughes, who is a leading haematologist here in Adelaide.

But Tim is also a cancer researcher here at SAHMRI. Funded by the Cancer Council SA's Beat Cancer Project as Chair of Research, he leads a group of cancer researchers who are dedicated to finding new and better ways to help patients who are diagnosed with leukaemia, myeloma, prostate and bowel cancers.

Tackling her cancer head on

A cancer diagnosis is difficult at the best of times - but a pregnancy poses a substantial challenge to a patient's treatment plan. Elle has tackled her leukaemia head on. 

Elle said that finding Tim gave her the support she needed to decide to progress her pregnancy. "It's been incredibly reassuring to have a world-leading CML expert helping my husband and I through this journey," she said.

With Tim's guidance Elle continued with her pregnancy, giving birth to a healthy baby boy, Tor Felix Biasotto, on 13 December 2016. She now begins the next stage of her journey, making a start on her treatment plan.

How can you help?

Every donation to SAHMRI brings our researchers one step closer - to a new treatment, to a breakthrough, to a new way of tackling a disease.

When you make a donation to the Elle's Journey fund, you are directly supporting Professor Hughes' mission of achieving treatment-free remission for CML patients. 

Professor Hughes said that this goal is achievable - with enough support. "Donating to research like this really helps us make a difference to patients with CML now and into the future. Every single gift helps," he said.

CML: a rare leukaemia

Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia is a rare cancer, affecting around 300 Australians every year. Most patients diagnosed with CML need to keep taking medication that should not be taken if you are pregnant. Often once a patient is in remission they still need to take this medication in the longer term.

Donate today and help Elle raise funds for leukaemia patients.

Image courtesy of Dylan Robinson/The Daily Telegraph.

Video courtesy of 60 Minutes Australia/Channel Nine.