Ten years ago, an impassioned Carrie Bickmore stepped on stage at the 2015 TV Week Logie Awards and quietly launched a revolution.
Named as the night’s Gold Logie winner, the star devoted her speech to raising awareness about the devastation caused by brain cancer.
Carrie lost her husband, Greg Lange, to the disease five years earlier.
Carrie, 44, also implored the celebrity guests – and viewers watching at home – to “whack on a beanie” to help raise awareness, as she put one on herself.
Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer Foundation was born out of that pivotal moment.
Now, a decade on, they have raised close to $25 million to help fund research into the disease.
The foundation also helps fund Victoria’s Brain Cancer Centre research facility.
On May 20, Carrie returned to her former workplace The Project to celebrate her foundation’s impressive achievements and to promote the latest release of her fundraising beanies.
It was her first time back since leaving the show in 2022.
The panellists, including Waleed Aly and Sarah Harris, gave Carrie a well-deserved hero’s welcome at the desk.
“It’s absolutely mind-blowing to have raised almost $25 million,” Carrie said.
“When I spoke out at the Logies, I just wanted people to know about brain cancer. I have major anxiety about public speaking, and you can hear it in my speech, but when I think back now, I’m so thankful that I did it.”
Carrie added that, once she realised Australians were on board with supporting her cause, she “naively” hoped to raise $1 million, and “that will be enough to solve brain cancer”.
While she is “so proud” of the Foundation’s achievements, she’s “sad we don’t have a cure – yet”.
In Australia, someone is diagnosed with brain cancer every five hours. Four out of five people die within five years of their diagnosis, and brain cancer kills more Australians under the age of 40 than any other cancer.
“But researchers say there is hope,” Carrie also said on The Project.
Carrie’s husband, Greg, was just 35 when he died, after fighting brain cancer for a decade. Their son, Oliver, was three at the time.
Since then, Carrie has gone on to forge a hugely successful career in TV and radio.
She welcomed two more children – daughters Evie, 10, and Adelaide, six – with partner Chris Walker, whom she split from in 2023. Ollie is now 17.
“I look at Ollie and see Greg, and I love that,” a proud Carrie has said.
Ollie has joined his mum in her fundraising efforts over the years.
On The Project, Carrie announced that her next target is to raise $500,000 by running The Big Five Marathon in South Africa, alongside 15 celebrity friends, on June 14.
“My goal is to come back to [The Project] in 10 years, and be able to say ‘now, we do have a cure,’” she added. “I’m going to keep going.”
