From Patient to Nurse: Powering the Next Breakthrough

Six years ago, Ella was a teenager undergoing brain surgery at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Today, she has returned to the hospital as a nurse, caring for patients just as others once cared for her.

At 15, Ella was diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma and Chiari malformation. She became the first child at the hospital to undergo brain tumour surgery using a new minimally invasive endoscope, which allowed surgeons to access her tumour through a much smaller incision.

With support from NRF, the hospital was later able to acquire its own equipment, helping make this approach available to other children.

Now, Ella is seeing first-hand how research and technology can continue to transform neurosurgical care.

South Australian researchers are seeking to purchase a high-performance research workstation costing around $26,000. The powerful equipment will allow researchers to analyse complex brain scans and large amounts of medical data far more quickly, supporting research into brain tumours, abnormal blood vessels and other neurosurgical conditions.

Ella knows personally what advances in technology can mean for patients.

“The equipment that was available when I was 15 made a difference to my treatment. Now there are opportunities to develop even better technology and treatments for future patients.”

Help fund the next breakthrough

Your donation can help give South Australian researchers access to the equipment they need to turn promising research into better outcomes for patients and families.

Donate today to help fund this new research workstation and power the next breakthrough in neurosurgery.