This Pink Test Day, Glenn McGrath is asking Australians to dig deep for its most ambitious fundraising goal yet: 480,000 pink seats to support up to 8,000 families battling cancer. In 2025, the McGrath Foundation expanded to provide nurses for all kinds of cancer patients, a goal that Glenn is extremely proud of.
Throughout the McGrath Foundation’s 20 years, cricketing legend Glenn McGrath has heard many stories of resilience, courage and hope. Women have told him of the strength they drew from having a McGrath breast cancer care nurse, and of how that support changed their perspective on life. Among them, there’s one story that stayed with him.
“There was a lady who had breast cancer, and she got through it and several years later had lung cancer, and she said the difference in support was incredible,” he recalls. As a breast cancer patient, the woman had access to a McGrath breast cancer care nurse. As a lung cancer patient, she didn’t. “You shouldn’t be discriminated against what type of support you get compared to what type of cancer you have,” Glenn says.
Now, the McGrath Foundation is working to deliver cancer care nurses for patients of all cancers and will increase its 302 nurses to potentially more than 1000.
“To now be able to have a positive impact across all cancers is something I’m incredibly proud of,” Glenn says.
When he looks back on what the foundation has done for Australians, he says, “I still have to pinch myself.”
A humble goal
The McGrath Foundation, which Glenn co-founded with his late wife Jane before her death in 2008, started with the humble hope of being able to make a difference for just one family.
“When Jane was first diagnosed, we went through the whole journey by ourselves,” Glenn tells The Weekly. “She had incredible strength, but somehow got through it. We had the recurrence in 2003, all of a sudden, there was a breast care nurse there, and the positive difference that made in our lives was incredible.”
Having a nurse to support Jane and the family, answer questions and help them make informed decision was transformative.
“You feel like you’ve got a little bit of control over where you’re going. So, when you came home, you could just be yourself. Be a mum, a friend, a wife, not just the cancer patient. I think that’s the greatest gift you can give someone at that time,” Glenn says.
When Glenn and Jane were approached to write their story, the publisher said they would donate some of the proceeds to a charity of their choice. Glenn and Jane thought about what was important to them. The impact of Jane’s cancer care nurse, Allison, stood out. They wanted to raise awareness of breast cancer. And also to raise funds to place breast care nurses in communities right across the country.
“The reason why we decided to write the book in the first place was that we thought if by sharing our story, we can help one person, one family, then it’s worthwhile. And I guess that was the driving force behind setting up the foundation.”
Since then, the foundation has made a difference for more than 161,000 Australian families.
Cancer care for all
“Obviously, breast cancer is predominantly a cancer that impacts women. Over 20,000 women a year are diagnosed with breast cancer,” Glenn says.
“In the back of my mind, [I] always thought it’d be nice to have a little bit more impact for men. At the end of the day, women are pretty good at looking after themselves, or if something’s not right, doing something about it. And us men are, we’re pretty hopeless sometimes.”
Around one in two Australians will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime. “We believe everyone deserves care,” Glenn says.
“Never in our wildest dreams did we think the foundation would ever get near where it is now… For anyone going through any type of cancer to have that free support where they live, it’s massive.”
Celebrate 20 years of care. Give now for all cancers. Head to the McGrath Foundation website www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au to learn more and donate
