Bone marrow transplants

Each year, thousands of Australians are diagnosed with leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma, and many more are diagnosed with autoimmune diseases such as MS, blood diseases like anaemia and other non-malignant diseases.

In many cases, a bone marrow or stem cell transplant offers the best prospect of recovery.

Arrow is dedicated to helping medical researchers find better treatments for diseases treatable by bone marrow transplants. We fund Arrow / HCC PhD scholarships to enable innovative bone marrow and stem cell research, provide opportunities for haematology nurses and help patients and carers with the cost of everyday living expenses.

Our organisation

The inaugural meeting of the Arrow Bone Marrow Transplant Foundation was held on 25th February 1987. We were incorporated as an association in NSW in May 1988 and as a company limited by guarantee in February 2009.

Arrow was originally established in 1987 to finance the Australasian Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient Registry (ABMTRR). The ABMTRR is a unit that collects, collates and distributes transplant patient data across 52 hospitals in Australia and New Zealand. The unit produces an annual report of consolidated data that is a vital reference source contributing hospitals, doctors, clinicians and other relevant persons in the field.

Over the past 30 years our work has expanded to include:

Funding medical research into the cause, prevention, treatment and cure of diseases that can be treated by bone marrow transplant.
Supporting patients and their families before, during and after bone marrow transplant treatment.
Providing opportunities for registered nurses working in the field of haematology or bone marrow transplantation.

Arrow is governed by our board of directors. All our day-to-day administration is managed by three part-time staff: our Chief Executive Officer, Richelle Koller and our Programs and Scholarships Coordinator, Sue Hudson .

Arrow has deductible gift recipient (DGR) status as issued by the ATO.
Registered charity number: CFN 10184. ABN: 42 135 196 244.

Arrow receives no government funding so we rely on the kind support of our donors, fundraisers and members to continue our work.

Financial Reports

An emailed copy of our latest audited financial reports are available by emailing info@arrow.org.au

What we do

We fund promising medical research and clinical trials that may lack mainstream funding.
We support patients and their carers, both during and after treatment, with a range of patient support services including the Tracey Scone Wig Library, accommodation, emergency funding and travel assistance.
We provide information and education for patients and carers such as Patient Information Guides and Patient Information Sessions.
We encourage nurses to improve their skills and knowledge through providing nursing scholarships.

Our mission

Improve the survival and quality of life for patients with blood diseases treatable by bone marrow and blood stem cell transplants and provide support for their carers in Australia

by – funding research projects
by – providing vital support to patients, their carers and families
by – improving patient care through specialised education and skills development for nurses and other health staff

Board of Directors

Mark O'Hara – Chairman

Mark O’Hara

CHAIRMAN

Mark joined Arrow in 2004 after losing his good mate, Greg Neate, to Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He has been a tireless fundraiser for Arrow, paddling the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic each year. Mark has organised many activities as chairman of our events subcommittee.

Mark served as our Vice Chairman for five years from 2008, and was elected as Chairman in December 2013.

David Eden–Treasurer

David Eden

TREASURER

David is a retired banker who worked with Westpac for 24 years prior to being diagnosed with CML. After a break from work due to illness he returned to work with Rabobank as a Senior Manager and has now retired.

David Eden was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia in 1994. Following a failed bone marrow transplant in 2000, he has been successfully treated with medication.

David is a member of the National Institute of Accountants. He is a keen contributor to the community, through the Australian Business & Community Network GOALS mentoring program, Lions and Rotary and as a justice of the peace.

David has been treasurer and a member of our executive since 1995. David was awarded an OAM in 2019 for his service to community health.

Richelle Koller – Chief Executive Officer

Richelle Koller

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Richelle joined Arrow in 2020 and is our Chief Executive Officer. Richelle has a passion for not for profit causes and has worked in the charitable sector for over 6 years, including as CEO of children’s charity Little Wings. Richelle is a Chartered Accountant, previously working for 10 years as Director at global accounting and advisory firm Deloitte. Richelle also serves as the Company Secretary on the Arrow board working to ensure that Arrow has the highest standards of governance.

Anthony Dodds – Director

Anthony Dodds

DIRECTOR

Associate Professor Anthony Dodds is a recently retired consultant haematologist and senior staff specialist in haematology and bone marrow transplantation at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre, St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney – where he was departmental head for 16 years until 2013.

Anthony is also Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of NSW and a past Medical Chair of the NSW BMT Network.

Anthony has been a member of our executive for more than 16 years.

Michael Quigley – Director

Michael Quigley

DIRECTOR

Mike is a retired telecommunications engineer who was the CEO of NBN Co for its first four years. Prior to that he spent more than thirty years working for the French telecoms supplier Alcatel being their COO based in Paris before he returned to Australia.

Having undergone a bone marrow transplant for Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia in 1991, Mike served on the Arrow board until he took up responsibilities for Alcatel in the US in the late 1990s.

Following a stem cell transplant for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia in early 2018, Mike rejoined the Arrow board in late 2018.

Leonie Wilcox – Director

Leonie Wilcox

DIRECTOR

Leonie is currently the manager of the Australasian Bone Marrow Transplant Recipient Registry. Before joining the registry, Leonie worked in the statistics department at Macquarie University for 12 years, teaching and consulting. She is also a trained nurse.

Leonie has been a member of our board since 2007.

Colleena Presnell – Director

Colleena Presnell

DIRECTOR

Colleena was a corporate trainer in business communication for 22 years, travelling widely throughout Australia, NZ and SE Asia. In early 2001 she was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukaemia and had two bone marrow transplants during her fierce battle to beat the disease.

Following her recovery, Colleena established the wonderful ‘Gift of Friendship’ project at St Vincent’s Hospital, Sydney.

Colleena has been a director of Arrow since 2009.

Dr Tim Molloy – Director

Dr Tim Molloy

DIRECTOR

Dr Tim Molloy is a senior research scientist in the Blood, Stem Cell, and Cancer Research Group at the St Vincent’s Hospital Centre for Applied Medical Research. He undertakes translational research into blood and bone marrow diseases, specialising in the development of new therapeutic strategies for leukemia. He also holds a Conjoint Senior Lecturer position with the St Vincent’s Clinical School in the Faculty of Medicine, University of New South Wales.

Tim joined the Arrow board in 2018.

Bronwyn Lisa Cuthbertson – Director

Bronwyn Lisa Cuthbertson

DIRECTOR

Lisa works in marketing, communications and change management. She likes to swim and ski, and has enjoyed competing in 10 summer and four winter World Transplant Games.

Lisa is 34 years post-bone marrow transplant for ALL and is passionate about finding a cure for leukaemia.
She has been a director of Arrow since 2012.

Philip Hartog – Director

Philip Hartog

DIRECTOR

Born and educated in The Netherlands, Philip holds a masters degree in corporate economics from Erasmus University in Rotterdam and an MBA from Harvard Business School in Boston, USA.

During his successful career Philip was deputy manager of Heineken Australia and managing director and owner of Australian Health Care Equipment. He is now a director of the Harvard Club of Australia Philanthropy.

He enjoys volunteer work and assisting charities and has been a director of Arrow since 2005.

Neil Pennock – Vice Chairman

Neil Pennock

DIRECTOR

Neil is a finance consultant, specialising in project finance and brings a wealth of financial risk management and cost control expertise to the Arrow board.

Neil established the Trace Richey Nursing Scholarship to support nurses working in the field of bone marrow transplantation, in memory of Trace Richey, his partner of many years. He is committed to the advancement of medical research, with a focus on graft versus host disease.

Neil joined the Arrow board in 2015.

Greg Arandt – Director

Greg Arandt

DIRECTOR

B.Com(Hons) University of Melbourne (1990) / MA Economics (Distinction) University of London (1994)

Greg joined the Arrow BMT Foundation Board in 2018. He is a principal of Ironstone Capital which he co-founded in 2012 and specialises in providing advisory services to the mining, infrastructure and energy industries and various governments, both State and Commonwealth. Prior to Ironstone, Greg worked at various investment banks including Merrill Lynch, Chase Manhattan and the Royal Bank of Scotland in London and Sydney. Greg is Chairman of The ZAMASA Foundation which supports immunotherapy research into Multiple Myeloma.

Dr Keith Fay – Director

Dr Keith Fay

DIRECTOR

Keith joined the Arrow board in 2018.

Amanda McLaughlin– Director

Amanda’s transplant career began in 1994 at The Royal Melbourne Hospital caring for inpatient Bone Marrow Transplant patients. She has a Bachelor of Science (Nursing) and Post Graduate qualifications in Cancer Nursing and Apheresis.

Since moving to Sydney in 2005 Amanda has worked at St Vincent’s Hospital as a Clinical Nurse Consultant in Apheresis. Amanda is very involved with the Haematology team and their education program supporting developing countries including Myanmar, Sri Lanka and The Philippines.

Amanda is heavily involved with the day to day organisation and proceedings of stem cell collection and she is very inspired by her work.

Her motto is – “make a difference to my patient’s day.”