Springfield City Group’s Bob Sharpless and wife Belinda have recovered from COVID-19
One of Queensland’s wealthiest business identities who battled COVID-19 first-hand has spoken about how he now plans to help fight the disease on multi-million-dollar scale.
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One of Queensland’s wealthiest business identities has beaten COVID-19.
Springfield City Group deputy chairman Bob Sharpless and his wife, Belinda, learned they both had coronavirus after returning from a trip to London in March.
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Sharpless told us they suffered a bit of nausea, lethargy and loss of appetite while overseas but only confirmed they had the dreaded disease once they were tested back in Australia.
The couple are now in the clear after self-isolating and have been helping researchers by donating blood plasma.
News of the drama emerged as Sharpless and his long-time Springfield business partner Maha Sinnathamby announced plans this week to donate $6.5m for medical research at the Mater Foundation.
Fittingly, the gift coincided with a socially-distanced celebration for Springfield’s launch 28 years ago.
“Having beaten the virus earlier this year, I know first-hand the vital role being played by our frontline healthcare workers – and medical research – in the fight against COVID-19,” Sharpless said.
“We have been working for some time towards making this donation, because we want to show the rest of the nation how committed we are to helping extend the boundaries of all the important research being carried out by Mater.”
Sinnathamby said the donation was the largest single donation ever received by the not-for-profit organisation at a time when medical research was at the forefront of the global fight to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We want to not only ensure the next generation of highly-qualified medical staff are trained, but perhaps we can reverse the brain-drain and attract back home some of the senior scientists who’ve left Australia,” he said.