Martin’s journey began 7 years ago when his wife was sadly diagnosed with breast cancer. After lots of treatment and surgery, she was very much on the mend when 4 years ago, the cancer returned. Finding great help in the support group at Breast Cancer Care WA, Martin realised how lucky he was that this support existed in WA.
When his wife passed away in April 2019, he became determined to provide a voice and support for partners just like him who may not have access to a support network of their own. Because of this, Breast Cancer Partners was born as a social network and information resource for those people whose partners are suffering from breast cancer, either primary or secondary.
The purpose behind this initiative is to provide support and promote mental wellbeing to a group of people who often feel as helpless and isolated as the sufferers themselves, but usually find it hard to access other support elsewhere.
As partners, everyone has their own journey and these journeys can often provide great help to those who are starting on, or approaching the end of their own journey.
With a current focus on what the content and structure of the network will be, Martin has also been figuring out ways to promote it in the best and most positive way. “One of those ideas is to raise donations, but funnel 90% of all donations to local breast cancer charities in the location of the donor, to make sure the primary beneficiaries of any donation is still the patients.” He shares with us.
While his story started with tragedy, Martin has now joined the Spacecubed community to focus on sharing his mission, and reaching new audiences. “I love the idea of collaboration; communities are always stronger than individuals because you benefit from collective wisdom and experience.” He tells us about his new experience in our spaces.
With a mission in 2020 to create a self sufficient and self sustaining network, Martin is proud that if he can achieve this, he will consider his efforts to have been a success.
If you want to support Martin on his mission, you can find him at Riff, powered by Spacecubed or reach him on LinkedIn here.
If you’d like to learn more about our Intensify Scholarship, head to pluseight.spacecubed.com/impact-scholarship today.