The impact of a gift in your Will
3 min read 02 September 2025
This week, as part of Include A Charity Week, we are taking time to reflect on the remarkable research progress being achieved thanks in part to people who have made the profound decision to include a gift in their Will to Peter Mac.
Include A Charity Week (1 – 8 September) raises the profile of charitable gifts in Wills and is the ideal time to highlight the importance of having an up-to-date, valid Will. Your Will ensures your hopes and visions for the future are carried out just as you intended, providing for the people and causes closest to you.
Gifts in Wills from caring people from all walks of life help Peter Mac researchers discover more about how to prevent cancers, so that more people can be spared from a cancer diagnosis in the future. Every gift in a Will, no matter how large or small, has been and will continue to be a lasting legacy to overcoming cancer.
By including a gift in Will, our ‘Friends for Life’ have and continue to help our researchers make life-saving breakthroughs. One lab, lead by Dr Kristin Brown, recently received crucial funding for pancreatic cancer research from a gift in Will.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest forms of cancer, in part because there are few effective treatments available. Funding from the bequest has provided an opportunity for the Brown lab to tackle this issue and find better ways to treat pancreatic cancer.
Include A Charity Week also gives us the chance to recognise the incredible, ongoing support from people who have told us they have made provision in their Will. By doing so, they become a ‘Friend for Life’.
Frances is just one of our ‘Friends for Life’. She loves photography and music and sang in a choir for most of her life. Frances was first an accountant and then spent many years working in education. She is passionate about equal access to education and finds hope in the connection people have with each other.
Frances has decided to leave Peter Mac a gift in her Will. "I have always viewed cancer research as vital. Keeping a patient in the work force, to contribute to society, as well as being a patient, child, grandparent or whichever is so worthwhile, and Peter Mac does this."
In 1991 she was first diagnosed with cancer, which came as quite a shock. Going into her first appointment at Peter Mac, Frances had already decided she would likely decline receiving chemotherapy and radiation. She knew that might mean she would die but felt strong in her opinion.
When Frances arrived at Peter Mac, there was a significant queue at reception. In front of her in line stood a woman who had been receiving treatment at Peter Mac for 14 years. “The ’14 years’ hit a nerve and started my thoughts about survival. I agreed to chemo and radio...I have been coming here for 33 years and that was worth going to Peter Mac for.”
Throughout her journey, Frances notes that she has always felt supported by the professionals treating her.
"I have found professionals who are empathetic and prepared to go the extra mile to help and support".
Even before her own diagnosis, Frances intended to leave a gift in her Will to Peter Mac. She understands that her gift will help Peter Mac provide others with the same care she received.
This Include a Charity week, please consider leaving a gift that will fund cancer research breakthroughs.
Find out more about Including us in your Will