Tag Archive for: Balranald

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Balranald Branch Autumn 2026 Highlights

Sue Murphy (Branch President), Emma Moore (Maari Ma Health Nurse Manager), Helen Murphy (Maari Ma Health Enrolled Nurse/Branch Secretary) and Alison Linnett (Branch Treasurer).

 

Maari Ma Aboriginal Health held their second annual “Murph’s Biggest Morning Tea” recently.

A gold coin donation was all that was asked from the Community to gather at The Gallery for morning tea to celebrate Murph’s (Helen Murphy) Birthday.

Offering morning tea to businesses in town, with our very own Uber eats delivering to their work, takeaway packages were available or guests were able to have a seat and yarn at The Gallery.

Maari Ma Presented Can Assist with a cheque of monies raised on the day $3449.55, thank you so very much.

 

Standing – Alison Linnett (Treasurer) Sue Murphy (President)
Seated – Helen Murphy (Secretary)Vicki Lister (Member)

The Balranald Football/Netball club hosted their Grand friends day at Greenham Park on Saturday June 20.

Over 60 Grand Friends joined together in the Big Shed for afternoon Tea, raffles and Trivia. The warm surroundings were very much appreciated on what was a miserable day weather wise.

38 raffle prizes were given away on the day; Trivia was a hard-fought competition with the winning team getting over the line by one point and Balranald won their first game for the season.

Over $3600 was raised for our Branch all from raffles and donations on the day.

Yummy Afternoon tea selection.

 

The Pud Forster Memorial Poker Run recently donated $6000.00 to the Balranald Branch of Can Assist. This generous donation are the proceeds of, yet another successful Poker Run held in October each year. Pud was a long-time supporter of many charities within Balranald, Can Assist are so very grateful his family have chosen our charity to support again. Thank you to all of Puds family and friends involved in putting on such an awesome event and best of luck for this year’s run.

Helen Murphy Branch Secretary, Pud Forster’s grandson Hudson Stevens and Branch President Sue Murphy

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Michelle’s Story

 

 

Michelle first had breast cancer in 2008 when she was 40 years old and had 4 boys under the age of ten. Due to the type of cancer and her young family, Michelle had 6 weeks of radiation but no chemo (“she can’t be sick for the months that the chemo treatment would have taken”). Her cancer treatment involved driving to Bendigo from her home in Balranald, on Monday, treatment for 5 days, then driving home on Friday – for the whole family. Can Assist assisted with the costs of accommodation and travel, as well as the payment of some bills. “It was a load off my mind as I didn’t have any income coming in … and with four kids under ten, I had plenty of bills coming in”. 

Michelle’s mother then had breast cancer in 2018 which prompted Michelle to have the hereditary test for cancer. Can Assist assisted with the costs of this test. The test came back negative, she didn’t have the cancer gene “which was good to know”, but that didn’t mean that Michelle was safe from cancer. 

In 2020 Michelle had breast cancer again (12 years later almost to the day), but a different type. Hence her treatment was different – Michelle had both breasts removed and radiation. Once again driving to Bendigo (600km round trip) was involved. Michelle had to take 3 months off work.  

Michelle’s experience with breast cancer was difficult – first having it with a large family and the youngest being 5 years old at the time. Then seeing her mum go through her own cancer journey. Michelle was a bit tougher and stronger when she received her second cancer diagnosis, but once again the travel distances added to the strain of her cancer treatment. So far Michelle has had to travel 20,000kms. “I wouldn’t have been able to survive my journey without Can Assist’s help”. 

And Can Assist may need to assist again, as Michelle has Barrett’s Oesophagus  where there is a change in the cellular structure of your oesophagus lining. It’s a risk factor for cancer, but the risk is low. “Fingers crossed”. 

Balranald: School formal

The annual Country Cruise & Shine fundraiser raised $19,000 for Can Assist Bathurst. More than 190 cars traveled from Bathurst’s Rockabilly Cafe to The Foundations in Portland in April to honor the late Ash James, who lost his battle with Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2018 at the age of 37.

Country Cruisin’ organiser Mel James, Ash’s sister, said the event showcased a vast variety of vehicles and proved to be a successful day all around.

“I think Ash would be very proud of everything we have achieved so far.”

Balranald: Visit from Emma Phillips

Great visit from Emma Phillips, Can Assist’s Executive Director to the Branch in March. Emma’s visit was a huge booster after the events of COVD 2020. Full of inspiration and encouragement, her visit gave us all time to ask questions and reflect on the past year. Thank you Emma, for taking the time to travel so far.

Balranald: Book Shop

During the COVID19 period from March to November the Book Shop has been closed but the Committee is very happy to announce the Book Shop has been re-opened and is already receiving a steady flow of keen bookworms. Run by local volunteers the shop is open daily from 11am to 3pm. Big thanks to all of them for such great support. The shop will now be welcoming the tourists back as the Christmas Holidays begin.

The upstairs area of the Book Shop has been revamped to create a great new area for a variety of books.  A big thank you to Alison and all the students for their efforts.