Camperdown agent bolsters auction at a black-tie gala for cancer research

The HOPE Fund Charity hosted a gala at the Plaza Ballroom, Melbourne, on Saturday April 27.

The organisation aims to raise money for hepatobiliary illnesses, which are related to the liver, bile ducts or gall bladder, gastrointestinal cancer and benign diseases.

The gala, which had an auction for several once-in-a-lifetime experiences including dinner with chef Ben Green, a day on the bay with Sam Newman, an interstate golf stay and more.

The HOPE Fund chief executive Christopher Farrell, said the organisation covered a wide range of diseases, malignant and benign, but focused the gala on pancreatic cancer for specific funding.

The HOPE Fund is an organisation focused on patient-centred research and educational programs with experts, patients and their families.

"It's sometimes challenging when you deal with charities that focus on just one disease, the good news for us is we have a wide breadth of capabilities for our research," Mr Farrell said.

"We decided to look at the capabilities of AI in the detection of pancreatic cancer."

He said pancreatic cancer was one of the deadliest in the world but eighth most common in Australia, with a low survival rate.

Mr Farrell said they aimed for a two-pronged approach to develop a data-based campaign to identify which lesions would progress to be cancer.

"We'll be able to save a lot of heartache and anxiety, and pressure on public health system," he said.

"There are huge gains from that, so our aim was to gain $500,000 to help fund the software development, pay for research coordinators, provide stipend for high-degree students."

He said it had gained international interest, from MIT and Harvard universities in the US.

"When I started the HOPE Fund, we looked to grow outside of Melbourne," he said.

"A farmer, for example, who lives out of Melbourne, gets one of these diseases and needs to drop everything to come to Melbourne.

"It brings a host of problems that don't really get looked at."

He said they had recently set up a National Grower Register number to allow for donations in the form of grain, in an organisational-first.

"A portion of grain can be donated to the HOPE Fund, it's really innovative and quite exciting that there's a new stream of fundraising that I've never even heard of before," Mr Farrell said.

"There was a huge turnout from our country supporters."

He said they had planned to speak with rural patients and HOPE Fund supporters who have been affected.

He said the support in regional areas was unlike any experience.

"I'm excited to see where it will go and goes to strengthen the HOPE Fund relationship with our farmers," Mr Farrell said.

The auction was facilitated by Charles Stewart Nash McVilly auctioneer Clayton Horspole.

"I was really keen to try Clayton, I had seen videos of him online of his cattle auctions and thought it would be something different from what we've done before," Mr Farrell said.

"He wasn't afraid to go off the cuff and spice things up when the tempo was getting a little bit low.

"He was really passionate about raising us money as opposed to getting up there and just doing a job.

"That for me was just worth its weight in gold."

Mr Horspole said he was "more than happy" to offer his services to a good cause.

"From a personal level, our senior auctioneer Doug died a couple of years ago from pancreatic cancer," he said.

"It was quite an enjoyable night, able to talk and mix with different people and see things at different levels you don't normally see.

"It's always good to mix it up a bit and go and have a bit of fun."