Rise Above – Capital Region Cancer Relief will celebrate 40 years of supporting cancer patients and their families with a free event at the Royal Hotel Queanbeyan on Saturday.

It is the only charity providing financial assistance – as well as practical and emotional support – specifically to cancer patients in the Canberra region, CEO Renee Watson said.

Thirty-four per cent of people receiving treatment for cancer must stop work, and often have little time to plan financially once they receive their diagnosis.

“There’s a huge financial strain,” Ms Watson said. “It’s like a tsunami hits. The speed at which you need to then start undertaking your treatment is enormous. Never mind the emotional upheaval; people are often left really short. They haven’t necessarily planned for something quite so significant.”

Eighteen months ago, average out-of-pocket costs were estimated at $10,000 to $15,000, on top of the chemotherapy treatment; those costs have increased in the current cost-of-living crisis, Ms Watson believes.

“There are a lot of people who perhaps would have had savings or been able to remortgage their house who just don’t have that cushion anymore, because life costs so much more,” Ms Watson said.

“We hear fairly regularly – particularly in the last six to 12 months – of people having to decide whether they feed their families or fill the car up to get to their appointment,” Ms Watson said. “I don’t think it is fair or right that someone should have to compromise getting their treatment because they can’t afford petrol.”

Rise Above provides food and fuel vouchers; one-off $300 contributions towards gas and electricity bills; and helps patients with pharmacy accounts and treatment-associated medicines. The PBS does not subsidise some medicines for rare cancers; these treatments can cost $3,000 to $6,000 a month, or as much as $12,000 for some experimental treatments, Ms Watson said. It assists younger patients with fertility preservation, too.

The charity also helps people who cannot eat normally purchase nutritional supplementation, which can cost $600 to $700 a week. Ms Watson says she has heard horror stories of people who lost 20 kg and are now down to 33 kg because they could not afford the supplemental nutrition.

In the last financial year, Rise Above supported a record 840 patients. Its fastest-growing group was adults aged 18 to 46. In 2025, it provided more than $712,000 in assistance, including almost $518,000 in food and fuel vouchers and $158,000 towards medical and pharmacy expenses.

Three women under 45 – two of them receiving palliative care – told Ms Watson that financial assistance meant they could spend precious time with their children, rather than worrying about bills.

One woman was donated a ticket so she could attend a Canberra Capitals game with her family.

“This is the first time I’ve felt like a mum and not just like a cancer patient for a really long time,” she told Ms Watson.

“That really stuck with me,” Ms Watson said. “That’s the kind of thing that money just cannot buy.”

Rise Above began as the ACT Eden Monaro Cancer Support Group in the mid-1980s. In 1985, Yvonne Cuschieri – “a trailblazing female leader”, Ms Watson said – raised money for 13 youths to go to a national CanTeen camp. Social workers soon approached her about other local families financially struggling because of cancer. In March 1986, Ms Cuschieri held the first Cancer Support Group meeting in her dining room. Volunteers ran the group for the next 15 years, but growing demand eventually needed full-time staff to manage fundraisers and administration. It changed its name to Rise Above in 2019.

Rise Above’s birthday party will be held at the Royal Hotel Queanbeyan from 2pm to 6pm on Saturday. There will be live music, canapés, a photo booth and a memory wall with historical photographs and memorabilia. The event is free. Tickets: https://www.riseabovecbr.org.au/events/18/40th-birthday-celebration

It will be a big community celebration, Ms Watson said. “Anyone who has been part of our community in any way can come along, share their memories and share their stories.”

Saturday will launch a year of anniversary events. Planned activities include monthly informal patient catch-ups, beginning in September; Talking Tumours, a pub-style open-mic event intended to make difficult conversations about cancer less taboo; Conversations on Cancer, a podcast featuring patients, carers, and others with lived experience; and a fundraising long lunch and truffle hunt at Beltana Farm. Convoy for Cancer, formerly Rise Above’s major annual event, will return in October 2027.

The public can support Rise Above through donations, regular giving, volunteering, or holding fundraisers. Even small regular donations will help, Ms Watson said: $20 a fortnight, or the cost of a coffee each week, would be enough to support a whole family for a year.

“The community is at the heart of what we do, and we are at the heart of the community,” Ms Watson said.