The Rainbows for Kate Foundation has been established to specifically address the current lack of knowledge and understanding in relation to Sarcoma cancers. Our objective is to raise money for the purpose of enabling research into this particularly aggressive cancer so that in the future those that are affected by it are provided more time and more options than Kate had. It is the view of the Doctors involved that a significant difference could be made into the treatment of this type of cancer within just twelve months.
  
The research we intend to enable will be spearheaded by Dr. David Thomas of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre in Melbourne. David studied at both Melbourne University and Harvard and is currently head of the Sarcoma Genomics and Genetics laboratory and has been instrumental in forming the Australian Sarcoma Group through which we would like to channel the donations.
  
Dr. Thomas’ view on the disease and what we might be able to achieve is as follows:
  
“I believe that we can make a difference. This project could make an enormous impact upon our understanding of the causes of sarcomas, at a time when that understanding is capable of being translated into new cures. Sarcomas are a group of devastating cancers affecting over 130,000 people each year. Approximately 850 sarcomas are diagnosed each year in Australia, a 75% increase over the past decade.  Sarcomas particularly target the young, causing 20% of cancers in children and 10% of cancers <30 years of age.

We have formed a consortium between the Australian Sarcoma Group, the University of Melbourne, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and the Centre for Cancer Genomics and Predictive Medicine at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. We will bring together Australian geneticists, clinicians, surgeons, pathologists, basic scientists and epidemiologists, who believe the causes of sarcomas can be understood only by a concerted national effort at both the basic and clinical level.”

With the help of the “Rainbows for Kate Foundation” the consortium aims to establish the Australian Sarcoma Kindred (ASK) registry, a world class resource to help researchers working to beat sarcomas, develop new tools to help doctors stratify genetic or hereditary risk for sarcoma and identify new genes which contribute to that genetic risk.

> More on Sarcomas and our Research Objectives