Archives for posts with tag: leukaemia research

Sadako’s leukaemia story – innocence, illness and hope

October 19, 2014 //
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In the summer of 2012-13 my daughter Katherine and her friends got together to make a short film during their holidays while they waited for their University offers.

Nearly two years later here it is.

 

 

sadako and golden cranesadako and golden bigsadako and golden boat

Paper Thin is based on the true story of Sadako Sasaki, who tried to fold 1,000 paper cranes to beat her leukaemia. This is an amazing short film directed by Elizabeth Duong with beautiful original music by Daniel Hernandez and Elle Graham. Don’t just take my word for it. Don’t just watch it. Don’t just like it.

Share Paper Thin to help make leukaemia HISTORY.

 

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Categories cancer, general science, genetics, leukaemia, leukemia, MDS, Paper Thin, Uncategorized

An idea, a film and a lot of hope

October 19, 2014 //
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A generous, dedicated group of people have been working hard to create the story of  Sadako Sasaki in film to support our leukaemia research project.

Sadako survived the Hiroshima bombing in 1945. Radiation can kill quickly by causing radiation sickness, or slowly by causing cancer. Like many other children who survived the bomb, Sadako developed leukaemia ten years later when she was 12.

paper thin - liz's coming shot

The Director Elizabeth Duong and the Paper Thin Productions team is poweful both visually and emotionally. Daniel Hernandez and Elle Graham’s music can stand on its own.

So why Paper Thin? The story ties in with our research into leukaemia, and we’re aiming to raise awareness and support for the research.

This is crowdsourcing with a difference. Researchers worldwide are looking to alternative sources of funding as grant funding gets more and more competitive. Missing out on grant funding is not a short term problem. One very real problem is that skilled Scientists have to leave research.  That means the projects they’re working on stop and discoveries they were after will never happen. The expertise  they’ve build up won’t be used.

The most risky projects are the ones that make the biggest difference, the game-changing discoveries. But granting bodies don’t like risky projects. They like giving money to the big labs – this means more of the same.

Crowdsourcing is gaining in popularity – the people decide for themselves what research projects their donations will help.  In the case if Paper Thin there’s no middle-man crowdsourcing platform (they take a commission).

Another big difference is the product – this is a leukaemia story in film and music.

So because the Paper Thin Productions team’s given their time freely you can be sure 100% of your donation will go to the research.

THANK-YOU TO ALL INVOLVED

The credits do better justice than I could to acknowledge the people who helped. Special thanks also to Jenny Going from the Essendon Symphony Orchestra for allowing us to use their time to rehearse and record the music, and also to Shauna Hurley, Bridget Bible, Richard Prentice, Barabara Cytowicz, Leslea Johnson, Amber Atkinson and Kayanne Allan from St Vincent’s Hospital who helped with the logistics of how to do this from the Hospital’s perspective.

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Categories cancer, leukaemia, leukemia, Uncategorized
June 1, 2013 //
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http://www.pozible.com/project/20784

Paper Thin.

It’s getting harder to find research funding these days – it’s also a big time sink. I’m exploring different ways to raise awareness of this leukaemia research project and funds to keep it going.

Shouldn’t the government fund research? The Australian government is the largest funder of Australian medical research through the NHMRC. But there’s not enough money to fund all the worthwhile projects. Researchers spent over 500 working years making applications to just one of the NHMRC’s funding schemes last year, at a cost of $66 million (British Medical Journal report). Only one in five of the applications was funded – that’s 400 years spent writing unsuccessful grant applications, 400 years of research that was foregone to write those grants.

This project is rare in that it is addressing a very severe type of leukaemia from a different angle to the projects that are attracting large amounts of grant funding.

Have a look at the About page for more information on the project.

One consequence of funding cutbacks is that once a project is halted, the researchers move on to something else and the momentum is lost – the project is not likely to get up again and the knowledge and expertise are lost. This project is very specialised, and is supported with very little manpower (just me really) in a diagnostic laboratory.

Elizabeth Duong is a young amateur film maker based in Melbourne. With the help of some very talented friends, actors and dancers, she’s making a film to support this research project. There’s an original film score by Daniel Hernandez, to be recorded by Essendon Symphony Orchestra. They are all donating their time. The film will help raise awareness of leukaemia and leukaemia research.

With the help of our very generous donors we have raised the modest funds that we need to make the film. Thank-you to all including Caroline, Sarah, Nicholas, John and our anonymous donors.

I’ll post more information on the film as it progresses but there are good details and some photos of the first filming session through the Pozible link. Also some examples of Elizabeth’s previous work. Have a look.

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Categories Paper Thin, Uncategorized