For over 30 years, the Bone Marrow Cancer Trust has supported over thousands of patients and families that have had to leave their homes for lifesaving medical treatment in Christchurch Hospitals.
In 1990, the Bone Marrow Cancer Trust was established by a passionate group of volunteers and haematologists with our founder Allison Nicol at the helm. Their purpose was to raise funds to establish the first bone marrow transplant unit in New Zealand to be based at Christchurch Hospital.
They set about raising over one million dollars for the transplant unit, and then began the journey of raising funds to purchase land for purpose-built accommodation for the families and patients traveling to Christchurch for lifesaving treatment.
In 1993, Ranui House was built (Little Ranui). It wasn’t long before Little Ranui was having to turn away families as the demand exceeded the apartments available and a further three rooms were added.
Again demand exceeded the apartments available and a further $7 million was raised to extend Ranui House to build Big Ranui, increasing the available accommodation to 26 fully and semi contained apartments. But demand continues to exceed availability and Ranui House is still having to turn away 2 to 3 families every day.
In 2016, the trust took another bold leap and raised further funds to purchase a freehold block of land on Selwyn Street. Construction has begun on a new purpose-built home with 43 self-contained apartments (Ranui Apartments) to be completed in early 2024.
The Trust funds life-saving and world-class cancer research through its annual grants programme.
One of the cornerstones of our vision is to ‘Cure and Care’. This drives our ongoing quest to find a cure for cancer.
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