On the eve of Rare Cancers Australia’s (RCA) ten-year anniversary, the cancera disease where abnormal cells split without control and spread to other nearby body tissue and/or organs community is bidding farewell to co-founder and Chief Patient Officer, Kate Vines – Australia’s first cancer navigator to specialise in the rare cancer journeywhat a person experiences/lives from the time they think they have cancer. After ten years at the helm, Mrs. Vines plans to enjoy a well-deserved retirement.
Kate was diagnosed with a rare cancer (medullary thyroid cancer) in 1991. Her GP had never heard of the condition, didn’t believe she could be cured and told her she had three months to live. She was thrust unexpectedly into the world of rare cancer – like some 52,000 Australians each year – and quickly discovered a world of helplessness, loneliness, and questions that nobody seemed to have the answers to.
It was this experience that led her and husband Richard Vines to establish Rare Cancers Australia in 2012, a charity dedicated to rare cancers awareness and support. They had a vision that one day they might be able to provide support to patients across Australia so that they too didn’t have to go through their cancer journey alone.
Today, RCA is recognised as a leading patient organisation within the Asia Pacific region, actively supporting over 600 Australians at any one time living with rare, less common and complex cancers. RCA Chief Executive, Richard Vines, said that cancer care in Australia is forever improved through her work.
“Kate will always be the inspiration and the very foundation of the organisation. It is a completely unique navigation service – a 360-degree care model that is aimed at being where the patients need us, when they need us – and that is entirely from Kate. It’s patient centricity in its most genuine form. It’s fair to say there is very little that can get between Kate and what she needs to help a patient. There are many Australians living today thanks, in significant part, to her fearlessness and tenacity.”
RCA General Manager, Christine Cockburn, says Kate’s legacy will live on in the organisation she helped to build.
“We always remember where patient support started, and the passion that drove it right from day one. It will always be part of the way we design our support programs. Kate has taught us to leave no stone unturned and to use everything we have in our toolkit to try and get what the patient needs, when they need it. She has an unwavering focus on the patient, and that is embedded into the DNA of RCA.”