By Edoardo Mesiti @EdoardoMesiti
At last night’s Logie Awards, The Project’s Carrie Bickmore took away the coveted Gold Logie. Rather than give the typical thank you speech, she used her two minutes to dedicate the award to her late husband Greg Lange, who died of brain cancer in 2010.
Standing in front of cream of Australian television in a light blue, low-cut Paulo Sebastian dress, she used her speech time to raise awareness about brain cancer.
It’s an issue close to her heart and she spoke to the audience about the 10-year battle she and her late husband faced.
“Over 10 years I watched him suffer multiple seizures a day, lose feeling down one side of his body; have his little three year old [son Ollie] have to push him around in a wheel chair because he couldn’t walk anymore,” she said.
Placing her trophy on the floor, she put a blue beanie on her beautifully styled hair which received an applause from the audience.
“Throughout his cancer journey he used to wear a lot of hats and he used to wear a lot of beanies and that was because he felt embarrassed about his scars on his head.”
She then asked television personalities to wear a beanie to help raise awareness about brain cancer, reaching out to the likes of Sunrise presenters David Koch and Samantha Armytage as well as Today‘s Karl Stefanovic and Lisa Wilkins.
She also urged people to wear beanies to work or school and to take a picture of it with the hashtag #beaniesforbraincancer.
In her speech, she took the opportunity to remind people that people working in media also go through struggles and the escape that working in television offered her.
“I know that people watch tv and they think we’re just faces who you know get to spend hours in hair and makeup and have these really awesome jobs. But we also have our own stories and our own challenges.”
Bickmore further dedicated her award to, “anyone that is going through really shit time right now. Anyone that’s supporting someone through a really tough time right now. Please believe that there will be a brighter day for you.”
She ended her speech thanking TV Week and said “You’ll see me on the dance floor.”
According to Cure Brain Cancer Foundation, the disease kills more people under 40 than any other cancers, and kills more children than other diseases. TheCancer Council reports that 1600 people will be diagnosed with brain cancer every year with only 400 them surviving. In Australia, one person is diagnosed with brain cancer every 6 hours. Every eight hours one will pass away from this disease.
To learn more about brain cancer visit Cure Brain Cancer Foundation and Cancer Council.
