79 {Matt Dun} Losing your daughter to brain cancer, Forever 4

Today we are talking to an incredible man who, together with his with Phoebe, went through the horrendous experience of losing their daughter Josie to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG).

Matt Dun is Professor of Paediatric Haematology/Oncology Research at the University of Newcastle and Deputy Director of the Precision Medicine Research Program at Hunter Medical Research Institute, Matt is currently a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Investigator. He has many more titles and awards that would honestly make us go over our word limit just to post them all.

The research of Matt’s lab underpins the international clinical trial for patients diagnosed with DIPG, a combination therapy strategy targeting the unique and emerging features of DIPG, with each drug targeting critical hallmarks discovered by the research of his laboratory.

In this episode Matt shares:

- His military experience and transition to civilian Life

- The experience of having his daughter diagnosed with DIPG

- How he started running as a way to cope with internal sorrow

- Why he decided to run a marathon to raise awareness and funds for research

- The way he and his partner started a charity called Run DMC Run to raise awareness

- What is DIPG and its treatment challenges

- How there is a need for increased funding and research for childhood cancer treatment

Key Quotes

“What we need to do is attract the world’s greatest minds to take on the world’s biggest medical challenge.”

“I just started to run…and for that time I was feeling physical pain instead of emotional pain and it just felt great.”

“Families just disintegrate. Because what they watch their kid go through, it’s hard to disentangle what you’ve experienced when you look at your partner again.”

About Matt

For more about Run DIPG through their website: https://rundipg.org/run-for-run-dipg/

Donate to Matt’s upcoming run here: https://rundipg-org.grassrootz.com/run-for-run-dipg-23-sunday-24-09-23/matthew-dun#claim

Follow Run DIPG on social media:

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/RUNDIPG

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/rundipg/

Get involved with the podcast online

On facebook in our community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/challengesthatchangeus

Or on Instagram: @challengesthatchangeus

To find out more about what Ali does, check out her business via the website:

http://www.trialtitudeperformance.com.au

For her other business you can find it through the website:

www.altitudefitnessarmidale.com.au

Or you can follow them on Instagram:

@Altitudefitnessarmidale

@trialtitudeperformance

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