Leukaemia light

By Lia Bichel
IN A tribute to her grandmother who died from leukaemia last month, Cranbourne resident Kirsty Vondeling lit a gold balloon at Light the Night in Melbourne last night (Wednesday).
Ms Vondeling’s grandmother was diagnosed with the disease nearly two years ago. She also had breast cancer 10 years prior to her blood cancer diagnosis.
Ms Vondeling said her younger brother and sister heard about the Light the Night event and thought it would be a great opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of blood cancers, such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma.
All three took part in the event, along with Ms Vondeling’s mother, her partner, and family cousins.
“My family and I really wanted to get involved and raise money for such a great cause to help others,” she said.“I also want to raise awareness because I don’t think many people understand how bad leukaemia really is.”
The Leukaemia Foundation hopes to raise $400,000 from Light the Night to fund cutting-edge research and free support services to patients and their families.
It was expected that hundreds of Victorians were to be involved in the event at Alexander Gardens, lighting up gold, white and blue balloons.
Gold represented remembering someone who has died, white represented celebrating being a blood cancer survivor and blue was to give hope and show support.
This year it is projected that 2480 Victorians will be diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma and blood cancer. It will be the second biggest cancer killer in Australia after lung cancer.