Jemima Gazley donates brain to Australian cancer researcher

Jemima Winter Belle Gazley died after spending her final weeks raising funds to cure the disease which claimed her life.

A teenager who died of brain cancer last week has donated her brain to a Newcastle cancer researcher to help him find a cure.

Jemima Winter Belle Gaz­ley, 15, from Wellington, New Zealand, was diagnosed in February with the same brain ­tumour that claimed the life of Dr Matt Dun’s four-year-old daughter Josie in 2019. Since then he has worked tirelessly to find a cure.

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, or DIPG is a fatal brain cancer with a prognosis of nine to 12 months. In the final two weeks of Jemima’s life, she had one wish, to raise money for Dr Dun’s continued research. She donated her life savings as well as her brain tumour and surrounding tissue.

Jemima Winter Belle Gazley donated her brain to Dr Matt Dun whose daughter Josie also died of DIPG.

Jemima died on October 12 and her final post to her fundraising page said: “Hey people, this is my life savings let’s hope with my money and yours Matt Dun can find a cure for this horrible disease.” She don­ated $5382 of her own money and raised over $700,000 in the last two weeks of her life from crowd funding and individual donations.

Jemima with her dad Oliver Gazley.

Her donated brain tissue ­arrived in Australia just four days later and was delivered to Dr Dun’s laboratory at the Hunter Medical Research Institute. Jemima’s brain will allow Dr Dunn to keep her ­tumour alive to grow in his lab.

Jemima’s father Oliver ­Gazley said after her diagnosis they scoured the world for ­experts and were impressed with Dr Dun.

“What Matt is trying to achieve and we can find something from it we may save the lives of many more,” he said.

Dr Matt Dun at work at the Hunter Medical Research Institute.

Dr Matt Dun lost her daughter Josie to DIPG in 2019. Picture: Little Kite Photography

Dr Matt Dun said he was­ ­incredibly grateful and humbled by Jemima’s gift.

“The brain is really important because it gives us another living avatar, another model but this model, when she passed away, the tumour had spread the NZ team could take tumour from different parts of the brain and get it to us still living,” he said.

“This is all her doing, we have been talking throughout her journey. She wanted to do this, it’s just really amazing, incredible young girl.”

Research into paediatric brain cancer has been limited and the money raised with help Dr Dun concentrate on finding a cure.

“Initially I couldn’t fund the work, now I am getting grants and this money means I can spend time purely focused on developing treatments and new information that will underpin the change we are on the precipice of seeing, and that means the rate in which we can get these new treatments into clinical trials will be much quicker,” Dr Dun said.

To support Jemima’s wish, go to givealittle.co.nz/cause/jemimas-wish

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