We have recently received an extremely generous donation from the Hawkesbury Canoe Classic (HCC) Association of $25,000 to help support our work here at Arrow. It is an especially generous donation this year because their event, the 111km overnight paddle down the Hawkesbury River, hasn’t been able to run for the last three years: two years due to COVID and then the flood events in 2022. We are grateful for the unwavering support given to us by the HCC Association.

The money raised by the HCC Association goes towards supporting promising research in the area of bone marrow transplants. Most recently, we awarded the Arrow HCC scholarship to Ritika Saxena, a young PhD Candidate at Murdoch Children’s Research Institute through the University of Melbourne. Ritika’s research is working towards growing haematopoietic stem cells (blood stem cells) in the lab from a patient’s own cells. If this is able to be done successfully, it could lead to better treatment outcomes for people who need a bone marrow transplant but who are unable to find a matched donor.

This year’s Hawkesbury Canoe Classic event is shaping up to be a great one. It has been scheduled for 28th – 29th October, along with a full moon. The event is open to all sorts of paddle craft, and paddlers as young as 16 and as old as 80 have taken part. You can read more about the event here. Registrations open soon, and money raised from this event will continue to support our promising researchers.