Peter Cursley - Newborn care champion (Farrer)
After enduring the tragic loss of his baby daughter, and soon after his wife, Peter Cursley responded to his personal heartbreak by dedicating his life to helping others. In 1995, he established the Newborn Intensive Care Foundation and has since raised more than $4 million for the Canberra Hospital and its Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Through Peter's hard work and dedication, vital equipment – from breast pumps and recliner chairs for nursing mums to state-of-the-art medical equipment – has been purchased. The Foundation also contributes to nurse education and training to ensure staff remain at the cutting-edge of neonatal care. NICU cares for around 700 babies each year, with 40 per cent coming from New South Wales. Combining his retirement jobs with his voluntary work as chairman of the Foundation, Peter’s motto, “life should not be a struggle when you are a few hours old” has driven the Foundation’s agenda for two decades. Peter’s never-ending generosity makes life better for so many babies and families.
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Fiona Kirk - Charity founder (Greenway)
Motivated by a desire to comfort mothers who have experienced pregnancy loss, stillbirth or the loss of a young baby, Fiona Kirk took a pair of scissors to her wedding dress, making the first of her ‘angel gowns’ in 2014.
Since then, Fiona has established Angel Gowns Australia and together with a growing team of volunteers, she lovingly handcrafts donated wedding dresses for babies she calls “sleeping angels”. From that first gown, made for a friend whose baby had passed away, Angel Gowns Australia has become a nationally registered charity that has delivered more than 5,000 garments to families and hospitals all over Australia. The heartbreakingly tiny gowns take an average of four hours to make and every stitch is sewn with the love of Fiona’s 300-plus highly-skilled seamstresses who work tirelessly to fulfil the organisation’s promise to create, package and deliver garments within 48 hours of receiving a call. Fiona’s kindness gives distraught families some peace at a time of unbelievable loss.
David Richards - Volunteer Fundraiser and Christmas enthusiast (Forrest)
The inspiration behind David Richards’ love of Christmas lights is a desire to raise money to support bereavement services for families who experienced the unexpected death of a baby or child, after he and his wife lost their son in 2002. The Canberra barrister and his wife Janean won a Guinness World Record in 2013 after decorating their family home with half a million twinkling lights, raising $200,000 for the charity SIDS and Kids ACT. David has since expanded his massive collection and moved location, and together with an army of electricians and hundreds of volunteers, constructs a fairyland of more than a million lights in the heart of Canberra. Upwards of 210,000 people pass through the tunnels of lights and marvel at the light display, now giving more than $300,000 each year – all in gold coin donations. David’s Christmas cheer has created a spectacular and much-anticipated annual event in Canberra which now supports a number of charities including SIDS and Kids.
Yanping Zhang - Medical researcher (Bruce)
Using her prowess in data management, Yanping Zhang has built one of the world’s most comprehensive and long-lasting studies of breast cancer treatments and outcomes. For over 18 years, Yanping and her team, with the cooperation of 250 clinicians, 900 GPs and more than 6,000 cancer sufferers, have collected detailed medical data on almost every breast cancer case (95 per cent) in the ACT and surrounding region. Not only has she created her own database, she has written a 200 page manual on how to operate it. This meticulous dedication, together with Yanping’s zeal to provide every doctor with feedback on cancer cases, has contributed to the ACT's higher-than-average survival rates and advances in treatment. Working day and night, Yanping’s enthusiasm, energy and tenacity is legendary. Her colleagues say that the international importance of her work cannot be underestimated and that Yanping’s efforts are making important inroads in the elusive search for a cure for a cancer which impacts 15,600 Australian women each year.