RDAU_10-11_Oct_Nov Issue

hits you. Then finance. What are we going to do with the house? How are we going to live? Where are we going to live? What’s going to happen? Everything hits you from different directions, and you just become number and number.” Little did they realise at the time, but the answer to many of the unknown factors was waiting for them in the inner-northeast suburbs of Adelaide. A refuge from the mounting pressures called the Leukaemia Foundation Bridgestone Blood Cancer Centre – one of a national network of free-of-charge accommodation centres tailored to the circumstances Geoff and Denise were facing. “When we came down, we were in the dark about what was going to happen, where we were going,” Denise recalled. “You don’t know what your life is gonna look like next week, let alone you know the month after and the month after that. So you don’t know how long you’re going to be there. You don’t know where your money’s coming from. Geoff had to give up work. We had no income whatsoever for a long time.” The Leukaemia Foundation has been there for Australians facing blood cancer for over 50 years, offering wraparound health services as well as practical and emotional support. The organisation is also acutely aware of the inequality of access to treatment and care that residents of regional, remote and rural areas have compared to those living in metropolitan areas. Sadly, there is also an alarming number of Australians who compromise their treatment options because of the tyranny of distance, or financial implications of accessing care. That’s why the Leukaemia Foundation operates much needed readersdigest.com.au     45 Inspirational