Carrie Bickmore’s fervent and passionate support to find a cure for brain cancer is well-known, but the promotion of her fundraiser last night saw the host come under fire on social media.
Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer went on sale last night – the same night as the annual Big Freeze at the MCG which also sells iconic blue beanies in support of research into motor neurone disease.
Some people were scathing of Bickmore’s decision to launch her fundraiser on the same day as the annual fundraiser by MND, which sees Australian personalities “frozen” by sliding them into an ice pool before the Queen’s birthday AFL match.
The Big Freeze sold a record number of beanies and raised more than $4.5 million for motor neurone disease research.
Others supported Carrie’s public push for a worthy cause, noting it shouldn’t matter when they promote the charities, as long as they’re raising money for those in need.
“If the government’s not going to pour money into it, I will have to,” Carrie explained.
Channel 9 also hosted a fundraiser yesterday, raising almost $6 million for sick children during a seven-hour broadcast for the network’s annual Gold Telethon.
While expressing the importance and necessity for more funding into brain cancer research, The Project told young Annabelle’s story.
Carrie was visibly frustrated by the lengths the parents of Annabelle, who has the same brain cancer as Carrie’s late husband, were forced to go to for treatment. The family have been forced to relocate to Mexico in an attempt to save their daughter’s life with treatment that isn’t available here.
“We need to give more money to researchers so they can create treatments here, so families aren’t having to go to Mexico to try and save their child’s life!” she said.
“When people are diagnosed with cancer, they need hope – you are not given hope with brain cancer,” the mother-of-two added.
“When you say more money, we are talking a lot – like $50 billion,” Co-host Waleed Aly, 38, explained.
“My beanies aren’t going to do that,” Carrie replied.
Carrie was also told the funding just “wasn’t there” to find a cure when her husband was losing his battle with brain cancer.
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