Last weekend I had the privilege of attending the Tour de Cure gala in Sydney, and it was one of those nights that reminds you why any of this work matters. I booked a table so that I could be there with fellow carers — the people who, like me, have sat in hospital waiting rooms, learned a new medical vocabulary overnight, and kept going for someone they love. To share a room with them, dressed up and celebrating instead of coping, was something I will not forget.

Why I wanted us all in the room together

Julie Crawshay celebrating with her extended family in Sydney, Australia
Julie Crawshay celebrating with her extended family in Sydney, Australia

Caregiving for a partner or family member with a brain tumour can be an isolating experience. So much of it happens quietly, at home, out of sight. Tour de Cure is a charity that has raised many millions of dollars for cancer research, prevention and support across Australia, and an evening like this one puts the human side of that mission front and centre. I wanted the carers at my table to feel seen — to know that the long, unglamorous days they give are part of something bigger.

What Tour de Cure means to families like mine

When my husband was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, research was the thing that gave us hope. Every trial, every incremental improvement in treatment, begins with funding. Organisations like Tour de Cure exist because ordinary people decide that brain cancer and other cancers should not have the last word. Being in that room, surrounded by people who fund and drive that progress, I felt genuinely hopeful — not naive, but hopeful.

Carrying it forward

I came home from the gala more determined than ever to keep building resources for families facing a Glioblastoma diagnosis, and to keep showing up for other carers. If you are a carer reading this and you feel invisible, please know that you are not. There is a community here, and there are people — researchers, fundraisers, fellow carers — working hard on your behalf. I am proud to stand among them, and grateful to Tour de Cure for a night that reminded me what we are all fighting for.

— Julie Crawshay, Sydney