TRANSCRIPT 🔗
00:00:00
Speaker 1: Today is an important day in all seriousness because it's another terrific initiative of, like the big freeze at the MCG and the freeze that we have at Adelaide Oval, raising money for the research into and fight against motor neurone disease. Danaher's Drive takes that fight outside of the football arena and onto our roads. Today, those roads are here in South Australia. The Drive to the Athelstan Football Club, Lunch at Lot 100, Handorf, Then the zoo, then tomorrow from the Adelaide Central Market to Port Elliot, to Goolwa, McLaren Vale, back to Adelaide Oval. And on Saturday, Barossa Park Oval, Avenue of Palms, Barossa Valley, Gibson Wines and the Amora Hotel. Sounds like actually a really fun three days in addition to doing some really important work. Bec Danaher, Neil Danaher's daughter and FITE MND grant program director joins us on 5AA Breakfast. Bec, good morning to you.
00:00:54
Speaker 2: Good morning. Good morning. Excited to be here in South Australia for the first time for the Dunhoos Drive.
00:01:00
Speaker 1: Great to have you here. You get to experience some beautiful parts of the state as well. Weather today is going to be great. It gets a little bit dicey after that. The nice thing about your foundation, among many, Bec, is that it doesn't seem to know state borders. It must feel like everywhere you go, there's a similar level of support. At least it feels like that to us.
00:01:20
Speaker 2: Oh, it definitely feels like that. Absolutely. The Australian community as a whole, have been amazing supporters from the very start. And what we always said is that MND doesn't know borders, so neither do we. We need to make sure that we're getting out. Because I think for those that are experiencing MND, when they see us out in force in their local areas, it just, again, reinforces that they're not alone in this fight.
00:01:44
Speaker 3: And, Bec, I wanted to ask you about the reportable Condition of this disease. Well, this condition rather, because it's been a conversation in South Australia lately that it's not a notifiable condition. And I know other states have moved to change this because... it means when we look at the statistics, which are shocking enough, they're probably not as solid as they should be.
00:02:08
Speaker 1: So today, two Australians.
00:02:10
Speaker 3: Will die from MND, two more will be diagnosed, but we don't actually report this disease appropriately here in South Australia. So it could even be more than that.
00:02:21
Speaker 2: Absolutely. And the best way to fight this disease is by knowing it as best as we can. And without having this information, it just makes our job a lot harder. So what we're seeing in New South Wales, they've led the charge. They've made it a notifiable disease. They're already getting more information on it. And it helps us in the fight to find a treatment and a cure, but it also helps from a care angle. So I know there's plenty of conversations going around in many states and plenty here in South Australia about seeing if we can change it to a notifiable disease. I think it would be terrific if that is the case. It's just we've got to find a way to find a treatment and a cure. It is an absolute beast. That's what Dad called it. So if we arm ourselves with the information, it just gives us that better chance.
00:03:05
Speaker 1: Are we, in Australia, global leaders in this fight now?
00:03:08
Speaker 2: We are. We are, which is just kind of a head spin from where we started. I remember working with Dad. We came together as an organization in 2015. And I distinctly remember trying to get a trial here, I would say 2016 and 2017, from an international entity. And They looked at us and said, you're not part of this fight. You're just too small. You're too far away. We don't want you here. And then here we are. We are one of the largest global investors in M & D research. We have this thing called the Global Roundtable where the best minds come to Australia because they're seeing what we're doing here. We are kicking goals. We are leading the charge and we just need to keep doing that.
00:03:52
Speaker 1: How can people support you guys on your trek over the next couple of days?
00:03:55
Speaker 2: Well, we would absolutely love if people are in the Appleston area to come down and say hello because we'll be there today between 9.30 and 11 o'clock. But there's lots of different ways people can support us. Even just jumping on our website to learn a bit what we do, we've got a beautiful Jayco raffle happening at the moment as well through RaffleTix. You can duck into Chemist Warehouse who are major partners of ours and they're running a point of sale throughout the cash register area. a donation. There's just so many different ways to get involved. But if you see us, we've got these very distinct polos. You can't miss us. Come and say g'day. We'd love to meet as many people along the way.
00:04:34
Speaker 1: Yeah, and I'm sure they'll come out and support you because you guys just do remarkable work. Bec, good on you. Bec Danaher, Neil Danaher's daughter and the 5M & D Grant Program Director for Danaher's Drive here in South Australia for the first time. They've done it in New South Wales and Victoria. And having it here in South Australia is going to be really, really special, I think. People will get behind it.