McGrath Foundation marks decade in pink

The McGrath Foundation has reached a major milestone, celebrating its tenth anniversary at the Sydney Opera House overnight.

The Australian landmark turned pink for the night in support of one of Australia’s most recognisable charities.

The McGrath Foundation, the brainchild of former Test player Glenn McGrath and his wife Jane, was founded after Jane was diagnosed with cancer in the early 2000s.

At first the Foundation’s goals were small, deemed to be a success even if just one person had the support channels they needed during their battle, according to the 124-Test player.

“It’s absolutely incredible,” McGrath told cricket.com.au.

“Back when I first thought of a Foundation – and starting it – the whole idea was if you could help one person it would be worthwhile.

“To think now, 10 years down the track, so many incredible things have happened. We now have 105 nurses and those nurses have supported over 36,000 families.

“Hearing those numbers just blows me away.”

Cricket Australia’s official partnership with the McGrath Foundation began in 2009 with the now synonymous Pink Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.

“The first time the McGrath Foundation was partnered up with the Sydney Test, we just came into that Test match hoping to do our best.”

“By halfway through day one, all of the Channel Nine guys got right behind it; we didn’t know what to expect but we were blown away.”

McGrath drew on his cricketing success to launch the Foundation to raise money to fund breast care nurses, but couldn’t imagine the magnitude of the global support it would attract.

“Cricket was my life and my dream growing up as a boy in the country was to play cricket for Australia as a fast bowler and to walk on the SCG, which is my favourite ground in the world – my home ground,” McGrath reminisced.

“For it (the SCG) to be iconic as the Sydney pink test, the whole five days people come in pink and to see the ground awash in pink, both teams supporting the McGrath Foundation and everyone wearing pink – if you don’t wear pink you feel a little out of place, with big burly blokes turning up in pink – you know something pretty amazing has been created.”

The McGrath Foundation is still working towards its vision of ensuring every person with breast cancer in Australia has access to a breast care nurse, no matter where they live or their financial situation.

“We have 105 nurses on the ground,” McGrath said.

“Our driving force is that every family experiencing breast cancer has access to a Health Care nurse … we have done some research which shows there is a decent gap in achieving that.

“Currently there are 79 nurses on foot across Australia and that will grow by 38 per cent to 105,” McGrath said.

“We will continue to work towards our goal in hope that every family has access to a breast care nurse because the difference they make to the families is huge.”

Despite Jane’s passing in 2008, McGrath knows she would be proud of what the Foundation has achieved.

“There aren’t many days that go by where I’m not talking about the Foundation in some way shape or form.

“It’s a great legacy, especially for my children James and Holly. The support around Australia has been amazing,” the former cricketer said.

“I consider myself a lucky person, so to have the chance to give back hopefully makes a positive difference in someone else’s life.

“A huge thank you to everyone across Australia; without that support we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.

“From the Australian Government right down to the person on the street has really made a big difference to people lives and I think that’s really special.

"It costs $13.3 million each year to fund the 105 McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities around Australia."

For more information or to donate visit http://www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au/