Boobathon, Sydney, 12th April 2014

This is a fundraiser that has been planned and co-ordinated by Dave Star and Lorna Gow. They have been working on it tirelessly for months, and their story is one that I would like to share.


Dave and Lorna own an art gallery and design business (Hand Of Law), and Dave stumbled across Love Your Sister last year and got involved, organising an art fundraiser at his gallery that raised over $10 000. Dave’s enthusiasm and drive is amazing.

So when Love Your Sister came to Sydney, we caught up with Dave and Lorna for dinner, to say thank you for all the work they have done, and to talk about the next fundraiser they are planning. We sat down to dinner, and Dave says “Well, should we talk about the elephant in the room?” and I wonder what on earth is going on, what is he talking about, then Lorna gives him a nod, and Dave proceeds to tell us that Lorna had found a lump in her breast and had just that week been diagnosed with breast cancer.

How is that possible? That someone who has done so much to raise money and awareness for breast cancer can then be diagnosed herself. I was shocked and saddened by this news. My heart sank into my stomach and I wept inside for Lorna and what she was about to go through. She quickly cheered me up with her positive attitude, and the good news that because the tumour had been found early, it looked like it would only need surgery and radiation. The news that she would not have to have chemotherapy, and would not need a mastectomy, that a lumpectomy would suffice lightened my heart and I thought “This is why we did it, this is why we started Love Your Sister. When I was first diagnosed as terminal, Sam asked what I wanted my legacy to be. I said I would like to prevent just one other women from dying, prevent one other family from going through what my family is going through. I thought quietly to myself, ‘Sam, we did it. We actually did it.

This reminder, of the true meaning of Love Your Sister, and the importance of early detection brought home to me the magnitude of what Sam is doing. Telling people, one by one, to be breast aware, not to fall into the booby trap. Visiting town after town and community after community on that silly old unicycle has been worth it. He really has made a difference.

So in the face of a new diagnosis of breast cancer, Lorna and Dave would not be deterred, the work would go on, and this would not stop them from organising another great fundraiser, even bigger and better than the Hand Of Law Gallery fundraiser they did last year.

While undergoing surgery and radiation, Lorna, with the help of Dave and the organising committee, organised the Boobathon. It was a family fun day, followed by a raffle and auction, going from morning to night at the Erskinville Hotel in Sydney. Thanks to ‘The Erko’ for providing your venue, and for supporting and hosting the Boobathon.

Today Show Cross

The day started with a live cross to the Weekend Today show link to segment I couldn’t find it online, don’t know if there is one. It was so cute, Leila McKinnon, the host just kept saying “Boobathon” she loved the word, and kept repeating it, she must have said it 27 times. It was a great plug for the event, and again, we are very grateful to The Today Show for their support.

Family Fun

There was face painting, a jumping castle, wrestler entertainers and a petting zoo, heaps to keep the kids entertained.

The wrestlers smashed Sam in the face with a cream pie, which the kids thought was hilarious (and yes, it’s true, I may have had a giggle too!) There is just something about Sam that makes him a perfect target for a cream pie!

 
Street Art

For the parents and other grown-ups there was a street art exhibit where several street artists painted huge paintings for the auction, live, in front of the crowd. The artists spent the whole day painting and creating, and watching the works evolve was really interesting.



The Artists, Ben Brown, Glenno Smith, Mike Watt, Sindy Sinn and Joel Moore worked away all day on 7 foot high paintings that were auctioned that night. The works fetched between $700 and $1600 at the auction, so that was a massive success, and some lucky bidders scored themselves some really interesting work.

 
I would like to thank all of the artists for donating your time and your work, between you you raised thousands of dollars for breast cancer research. Thanks.

Stalls, stalls and more stalls

There were a stack of stalls, showcasing all sorts of interesting bits and pieces, a highlight of this for me was the Breast Screen NSW stall.

Sarah worked all day informing women of how to do self-checks and booking women in for their breast screens. This is the frontline of the war against breast cancer. Checking for lumps and bumps and being proactive if you find anything is the key to surviving this disease. Around 15 000 women will get breast cancer each year in Australia, and 7 women die of it every day! Fewer women will die if we are as vigilant about early detection for breast cancer as we are with our pap tests. So if you haven’t had a mammogram and you are over 40, you are eligible for a free screen through Breast Screen in your State or Territory. For younger women, please do self-checks once a month, and ask your GP to do a breast check for you every time you have a pap test. Breastcancer.org has step by step instructions on how to check your breasts yourself - it’s easy and doesn’t take much time.  Mammograms aren’t effective in younger women, so self-checking is essential.

There is something I love about family fun days, fetes and festivals, and that is that you can buy cupcakes and other such goodies there. Diane and Katie donated their time, the ingredients and their baking prowess to raising money for Love Your Sister today, and in the weeks leading up to the Boobathon, and they make the BEST Honey Joys I have ever eaten. Thanks guys, you raised over $1000 today, awesome effort.

Other stalls included Dog Pack, Diane Tipping & Katies cakes, Elouera SLSC, Uno Amore Coffee, Ben Coles & the Super Wrestling Heroes, The Erko Hotel Sausage Sizzle and Shadow Lust Designs, Paddy the Baker and more. Thanks so much to all the stall holders for coming along and helping out. You all made a big contribution to the day, both by being there and donating to breast cancer research, so thanks heaps.

Bunnies Bunnies everywhere…..

 

A long-time friend and supporter of Love Your Sister is Louise Munnoch. Lu is living with breast cancer and she somehow finds some time and energy in her busy treatment, work and family schedule to help us out. She came along with her beautiful daughters and friends today to help out. Lu bought these piggy and bunny onesies (kindly donated by KIGU ) and the girls donned them and became our cutest supporters of the day.

Body Painting, slick, very slick indeed

There was an amazing artist doing body painting at the Boobathon. Her name is Anna and she runs a business called Brown Sugar Air Lab. Today she donated her time and artistic excellence to raising awareness and money for Breast Cancer. Check out her work! Isn’t it amazing? To see more about what she does, and heaps of pics of her Love Your Sister work, please click on the link and check out her facebook page, it is worth it.



Entertainment, tunes floating through the air

There were several entertainers who donated their time to creating a great ambience for the Boobathon. A huge thanks to Dave Favours, Sharon Gambill and Deny Kirkwood for coming along and contributing.



Thanks also to radio station KIIS 1065 who promoted and attended the Boobathon.

Going once, Going twice……………………..And Sold

If all of this wasn’t enough, and believe me, by now I was exhausted, but there was so much going on, I stuck around for more boobarific fun and fundraising.

The committee organised a huge array of raffle prizes and auction items, there were hundreds of them, too many to mention here, but a special thanks goes out to Rocks Brewing Co the main sponsor and Hungerford Hill Wines.

The auction was so much fun, people were bidding like crazy on art, dining experiences, sporting and music memorabilia and all sorts of things. Then, in walks Ray Meagher (also known as ‘Alf Stewart’ from Home and Away), shouting ‘Strewth’ and ‘Stone the Crows’. He came along to auction the Home and Away on set experience, and if he hadn’t become an actor, he certainly could have been an auctioneer. He spoke really nicely of Sam, in his younger days, when he appeared on the show as Sally’s first boyfriend, and auctioned the Home and Away experience for big bucks.

 

Then came a very emotional auction item. Sam’s Unicycle. I couldn’t believe that he was willing to auction it off. Something that held so much meaning and so many memories, he was willing to part with his unicycle that took him up Mount Kosciusko, the hardest and most gruelling section of his unicycle ride. And here he was, putting it under the hammer. I couldn’t believe it, my heart was in my throat and I felt sick, I wanted to cry. Instead I got up and asked for the microphone, then I pleaded to the bidders to make this worthwhile, for such a special item, something so close to my heart, I wanted to at least see it sell for a good amount, even though I didn’t want it sold at all.

Then the most heart-warming thing happened. Allan Sparkes bought the unicycle for well over $1000 and then came over to me, and told me that he had bought it for me, because the unicycle should stay in the family. I was so touched, I couldn’t believe that someone could be so kind. I talked to Allan and his lovely wife for a while afterwards and it turns out that he has written a book himself, he was a police officer who saved an 11 year old boy from a flooded storm water drain and then spiralled down into PTSD. To see more about his book, please click on the link. It’s an inspirational story about a wonderfully kind man.

Thanks Allan, due to your generosity, Sam’s unicycle, will stay in our family for ever now.

Drum Roll Please……………………And the Grand Total is…………………….???

After an amazing fun filled day and night, that was worked on, and contributed to, by hundreds of people, the Boobathon raised a massive……………….drum roll please…………..

$35 800. This is the single biggest fundraiser ever held for Love Your Sister, and I would like to acknowledge the organising committee for their amazing work, Dave Starr, Lorna Gow, Sean Dugan, Sharon Ayres, Simone Reid, Fern Anderson, Hannah Jeffers, Monique Galloway, Michelle Day and Marni Jenkin. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!

Photo Credits

Thanks to Daniel Gibbs and Amanda Nelson for your photos of the Boobathon.

For a full list of supportors and contributors for the Boobathon please see below:

The Venues & Co

Hannah Jeffers

The Erskineville Hotel

Natalia James

Solotel

Jake Toivonen

The Bank Hotel

The Courthouse Hotel

The Organising Commitee

Sean Dugan

Sharon Ayres

Simone Reid

Fern Anderson

Hannah Jeffers

Monique Galloway

Michelle Day

Marni Jenkin

The Event Sponsors

Rocks Brewing Co – Main Sponsor

Especially Mark Feathers & Tim Fishwick

PM Electric

Hungerford Hill Wines

Electrical Project Solutions

Drawable

Lighthouse Tattoo

Stone & Wood Brewery

Megadeck Staging Systems

The Video Makers

Deny Kirkwood

Ash Brennan

Hired Gun Productions

Carlton United Breweries

In The Wings

Brendon Pavey

Tracey Cook

Darren Bottom

Luella Moore

Richard J Watkins

Katherine Moore

Rob (Paw Paw) Moore

Brittany Sheahan

Sammy McPherson

Karen Nettelfield

Omar Chicho

Chel Cherie

Christophe Domergue

Glen Steveson

Damien Flegg

Matt Mannix

Steve Lambrinos

Cameron & Liz Francis

Josh Roelink

Rick Scarfone

The Stall Holders

Lena Seeto & Dog Pack

Diane Tipping & Katies cakes

Glenn Cairncross & Elouera SLSC

Sharon Chapple & Uno Amore Coffee

Ben Coles & the Super Wrestling Heroes

Sarah Little & Breastscreen NSW

The Erko Hotel Sausage Sizzle

Bec Willis & Shadow Lust Designs

The Auctioneers

Rick Nicholson

Braden Walters

McGrath Real Estate Agents

Auction Donators

Kristina Echols & Channel 7

Ken Healy

Ray Ahn, John Needham & The Hard Ons

Deniz Tek

Ian Roberts

Graham Thompson

Kerry Ratcliffe & The Koru Studio

Glenn Koek

Ash Brennan

Hand Of Law

Samuel Johnson

Fern Anderson & the Sydney Swans

JCB Carpentry

Craft Design Realisation

Ithaca Cottage – Mudgee

Rick Grossman & the Hoodoo Gurus

Rob Hurst from Midnight Oil

Raffle Donators

Bondi Beach Cruisers

Lion Nathan

Tender Touch Landscaping

Sydney Pub Tours

David Jones

Pacific Brands

Joico Hair Products

Hungerford Hill Wines

Sharon Gambrill Laughter Yoga

Sydney Harbour Tall Ships

Frances Watts

Billiard Blitz

BridgeClimb

Ben Brown

Ash & Natasha Brennan

Dendy Cinema Newtown

Bohemian Diva

Sydney Swans

Macleay Hotel Potts Point

Corona Beer

FDC Group

Better Read Than Dead

Sydney Buddhist Centre

Suncorp Stadium

Della Mano

Bar Nosh

Queensland Bulls Masters

“Mansfield” Cottage Barrington

The Bank Hotel (Newtown)

Masterchef

Flying Penguin Toy Store

Arbonne

Itsy Bitsy Baskets

Hand Of Law

Beyond The Sea

Marked Hair

LoveLight Kingdom

Katiescakes

Erskineville Deli

Bunnings Alexandria

Tooheys New

Frances Watts

Hands Of Imagination

Corona

Ken Healy

Tracey Cook

Anada Jones

Dr Garden

Bank Hotel (Newtown)

Allphone Arena

Our Suppliers

Adam Ziino & Shout Media

Andrew Meats

LUX Bread

The Street Artists

Ben Brown

Glenno Smith

Mike Watt

Sindy Sinn

Joel Moore

Dog Show Prizes

Dog Pack

Wolf Ink Dog Grooming

Entertainers

Dave Favours

Sharon Gambill

Deny Kirkwood