Doing good.

Brain cancer has some really heartbreaking stats. One Australian is diagnosed with brain cancer every five hours, and survival rates have barely changed in 30 years. But together, we can make a difference to the futures of brain cancer sufferers and their families

This year, the range was again co-designed with CB4BC Founder, Carrie Bickmore. The result? Limited edition caps that look good and do good, with money raised going towards funding vital brain cancer research. Carrie's Beanies 4 Brain Cancer caps are stocked exclusively online at cottonon.com.

Read our chat with Carrie Bickmore on how far CB4BC has come over the last seven years.

Our last campaign with you was in 2020 – What’s been happening since then?

Since that last campaign, we really took our time to figure out what we wanted to achieve in brain cancer and how we could do things differently. We initiated conversations with some trusted institutes to ask one question, “Can we organise the way we fund research differently?”

Those discussions eventually led to the launch of The Brain Cancer Centre in Oct 2021.

The Brain Cancer Centre is a research strategy and investment platform that is bringing together the brightest medical research minds with a single focus: That one day no lives are lost to brain cancer.

The Centre connects phenomenal talent, infrastructure and experience through our collaborators: Monash University, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, The Royal Children’s Hospital, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, The University of Queensland, Victorian Government, VCCC Alliance and WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute).

We’ve already invested over $6M into key fundamental research projects and recently launched a world first clinical trial platform called BPoP, where biopsies are taken before and after treatment to provide critical information on drug activity.

Why a cap? Why now?

I’ve spent 13 years as a part of Australian television on The Project desk. Without the Project, I wouldn’t have done my Logies speech, and been absolutely blown away by support from around Australia. Thanks to this incredible support, it’s the place I told Australia I was launching my foundation, Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer. It’s the place we launched multiple beanie campaigns and raised over $20M through that time.

It's the right time to move on to something new and I thought it was a great opportunity to celebrate the last show on The Project, by giving those that have followed my journey another chance to support CB4BC and the incredible researchers working on solving the brain cancer puzzle. Given I finish the show in November, it would be way too hot for beanies, so we’re bringing out a fresh cap for summer — which I love!

What does it mean to you to have Cotton On on board as a partner again?

We’re so thankful to Cotton On for helping us bring these limited edition CB4BC caps to life. Their support allows us to make sure that the most money possible goes to research. With the establishment of The Brain Cancer Centre, we have some incredibly exciting research projects already underway and this support will make a huge difference to the researchers, brain cancer patients and their families. It also allows us to get these beautiful caps onto people's heads as quickly as possible.

CB4BC is in its 7th year of doing incredible work to raise awareness for brain cancer research. What impact has this had on brain cancer research?

I don't think we'll know the true impact of this money, to be honest, for many many years to come. You know, for us to see a change in brain cancer survival rates, it's going to take sustained money over a long period of time, for us to really reverse those statistics the way it has other cancers. Speaking to researchers along the way, it's allowed them to focus their career on brain cancer research, and it's also allowed new researchers to come on board; the next generation of scientists. So I think there are many different ways this money is already having an impact, but I think it'll be many decades to come before we see the true impact of the incredible generosity of Australians.

Why is continuing to raise awareness about brain cancer so important?

Survival rates of brain cancer haven't changed in 30 years and that's unacceptable. I just think for a cancer that kills more people under 40 than any other cancer, more children than any other disease…it's time for it to be funded better. Thanks to the work of many different people advocating in this space we’ve been able to raise more awareness which leads to more funding and support.

Why is continuing to raise awareness about brain cancer so important?

We need to maintain the momentum we have now and keep the urgency on funding both elements of our strategy — fundamental research and clinical trials. We have some huge resource goals for The Brain Cancer Centre to ensure that researchers’ precious time is spent on making discoveries and not on chasing funding.

In 10 years time, if we had clinical trials available for all patients diagnosed in Australia and found some successful drugs to target brain cancer that would be unbelievable progress and will change lives.

“We want to see the day when no family has to lose someone they love to brain cancer. We want to make sure that every Australian diagnosed with brain cancer will have access to the best treatments and be given real hope for a positive outcome. I truly believe that, together, we can achieve this.”

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