The NSW north coast countryside is the latest subject of paintings by travelling artist Miranda Free, the same country her cyclist husband Steve Goble is currently pedaling through.
The couple are hoping that Steve’s huff ‘n’ puff and Miranda’s landscapes will help raise much needed cash and awareness for the Cure Brain Cancer Foundation after their son-in-law was struck down with the condition.
They will be arriving in Coraki today and pushing on to Coopers Shoot tomorrow before continuing on to Murwillumbah and Brisbane later in the week.
Since leaving Perth on November 30 last year, Steve has cycled more than 9,000 kilometres through Western Australia, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and NSW, while Miranda has produced around 90 artworks of the landscape pass through in a variety of media.
Out on the road they are living out of a tiny bright yellow teardrop caravan just big enough for a double bed and small kitchen out the back.
‘It certainly intrigues people,’ says Steve. ‘We often have people ask if that’s where we carry our dog!’
They are hoping to raise $50,000 by the time they circumnavigate Australia for a cause close to their hearts.
Happily, their son-in-law, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour four years ago, is one of the few who has had a good outcome.
‘This terrible disease mainly affects young people and is responsible for more children’s deaths than any other disease in Australia, with only two in 10 people surviving for five years,’ Miranda said.
Cure Brain Cancer Foundation CEO Catherine Stace has praised Steve and Miranda’s ‘creative minds and determined hearts’ saying they were ‘connecting communities and inspiring people across Australia.’
‘Science is on the brink of exciting breakthroughs and this type of incredible fundraising effort backs Cure Brain Cancer Foundation to challenge the status quo and drive the biggest ever push to bring quality clinical trials to Australia.
‘This will help to accelerate lifesaving treatments for people with brain cancer and propel us closer to increasing the survival rate, which remains unacceptably low and unchanged for more than thirty years.’
When they reach Brisbane, they will be partaking in an 50km fundraising ride with a prize for most outrageous outfit.
If you want to find out more or donate head to www.steveandm.com or www.facebook.com/steveandm and www.curebraincancer.org.au
A vast quantity of funds are being directed into finding a cure for cancer, which always seems to be around the corner. Perhaps this has something to do with the size of the cancer industry, which was worth US $124.6 billion at the last count.
It may be more productive to funnel some of these billions of dollars raised into prevention, and political lobbying to ban known and probable carcinogens that the ‘search for a cure’ people doesn’t seem to want to tackle.
However the money you donate does sometimes go into misleading websites that play down links between cancer and various industries. See:
https://www.cancerwa.asn.au/resources/cancermyths
Anybody who is open minded to researching natural, non-patentable avenues for brain cancer might want to look at hemp oil, the work of Stanislaw Burzynski, and proton beam therapy.
A woman in the UK who tried to give proton beam therapy to her child was described as ‘An ignorant, perhaps self obsessed women determined to press unscientific quackery on her suffering child.’ Later, when the therapy received a UK Government stamp of approval, it was described as a ‘pioneering cancer treatment.’