When The Personal Becomes Powerful

A minister turned advocate, a journalist turned survivor – both Patrons of a legacy

Trudy Crowley was never one to go quietly.

Faced with a life-altering ovarian cancer diagnosis in 2016 and handed little more than a generic brochure on breast cancer, she saw the gaping holes in the system and set out to fill them. With grit, grace, and a fierce refusal to be silenced, Trudy turned her own diagnosis into a catalyst for change, inspiring a grassroots movement that would become the Trudy Crowley Foundation.

Her legacy now lives on through a growing team of professionals and volunteers, and it beats loudest through the voices of those who continue to champion her mission. Among them are two women who know the fight against cancer not only from their public platforms but from personal experience.

Amanda Camm, State Member for Whitsunday, Minister for Families, Seniors and Disability Services, and Minister for Child Safety and the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, became the Foundation’s first Patron in 2021. She had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Trudy in the early days, witnessing the vision take shape. Her belief in place-based, compassionate care made her a natural ally.

Now, a second Patron joins the fold: Amanda Wright, Editor of Mackay Life newspaper and co-editor of Core Life Magazine, who was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2024. Her recent battle adds a raw and powerful urgency to the cause. Together, the two Amandas bring strength, visibility and heart to a Foundation built on lived experience and fierce community advocacy.

When someone you admire turns their own diagnosis into a legacy that continues to change lives, that leaves a mark. For Amanda Camm, that someone was Trudy herself.

“I knew Trudy and I admired her courage and advocacy for ovarian cancer; her vision to have specialised cancer care delivered locally,” Ms Camm says.

That vision continues to grow, long after Trudy’s passing and Ms Camm has stood alongside the Foundation as it evolves. Officially named Patron in 2021 after her election, she had already witnessed the heart behind the cause at its earliest fundraiser, when three founding directors launched what would become one of the region’s most compassionate community-led services.

For Ms Camm, the Foundation’s work aligns deeply with her own beliefs.

“I believe in a community-placed-based model of care, and the Trudy Crowley Foundation provides this service.”

That local-first ethos has become even more vital as the Foundation expands into the Whitsundays.

“Cancer doesn’t discriminate in age, geography, status, and the further away you are from a major centre, the less support and access many experience,” she explains.

“With supports now offered in the expanded Whitsunday region, I know it is welcomed not just by those with the disease but by the family and broader community.

“It also raises awareness, which can save a life.”

The Foundation’s future vision, to create a dedicated palliative care sanctuary, is one Ms Camm wholeheartedly supports.

“We have a beautiful region, and the vision the Foundation has to create a sanctuary to support someone to pass with dignity and outside of a clinical setting, surrounded with care and providing a space for family and friends, is to be commended.”

Cancer has touched her own world many times, from family members to friends. One of those was the late Bridgeen Doherty.

“She was an incredible woman,” Ms Camm says.

“The Foundation was integral to her care and how she found her calling; she once shared that with me.”

As Patron, Ms Camm’s role is not ceremonial; it’s a reflection of belief.

“I admire the commitment and passion of the committee, staff and volunteers,” she says.

“There is authentic care at the heart of everything TCF does in our community.”

Amanda Wright was used to being the storyteller. As a journalist, she had shared the work of the Trudy Crowley Foundation through magazine spreads and newspaper features, championing its mission with professional admiration. But when she walked through its doors for the first time not as a reporter, but as a cancer patient, her world had already turned upside down.

Just weeks after her son’s first birthday, Ms Wright was diagnosed with Stage 3B colon cancer. Her symptoms had been dismissed as haemorrhoids, but after repeated hospital visits for severe anaemia, a colonoscopy was finally scheduled. She went under anaesthetic expecting a routine banding. When she woke, the surgeon stood at the foot of her bed and told her she had cancer.

In that moment, her world stopped. There was no hand to hold, no reassuring presence beside her. Just a single sentence that shattered everything she thought she knew about her life.

Once the realisation had set in, tears streamed down her face.

“I just remember sobbing, I couldn’t get the words out properly. I told my husband over the phone, through choked tears, that I had cancer,” she recalled.

He dropped everything and came straight to the hospital, carrying their little boy in his arms.

What followed was a whirlwind of scans, appointments and information sessions leading up to major surgery. Her cancer had spread beyond the bowel wall into surrounding tissue, lymph nodes and liver. The rest of her year involved eight rounds of chemotherapy as well as oral chemotherapy. But it wasn’t until after her second round of chemo that the reality of cancer had hit her.

“I had a particularly bad round where the side effects hit me hard. I had extreme sensitivity to cold in my hands and feet, and was in the oncology ward, clinging to my drip as I attempted to walk back from the toilet. The pain was horrible and it was one of the few times I remember crying.

“The reality of ‘I have cancer’ had finally found its way into my soul.”

The day after that round of chemo, Ms Wright found herself standing on the footpath outside the Trudy Crowley Foundation, reading the words etched on the windows, trying to muster the courage to walk through the door.

“I had been there before as a journalist; it was a whole different thing being there to seek help,” she said.

She couldn’t muster up the courage to walk through the door. She quickly walked past the pub on the corner, across the road to Misfuds, where she bought some bananas and bread, talking herself into just walking through that door.

“I was at my breaking point and I was lost for words, so part of my struggle was even knowing what to say,” she recalled.

The second time around, with the grocery bag in hand, she walked through that door, and she recalls it as a turning point in her journey. Instead of seeing the lovely nurses Chris and Rosie, Ms Wright had walked in on a Friday, which is often a men’s support group time. She met Earl Neilsen, one of the Foundation’s ambassadors, along with a cancer survivor, Shane.

“I still couldn’t find the words,” Ms Wright said.

“I kinda just stood there, trying not to cry.

“They didn’t ask why I was there. They already knew,” she said.

“That first cuppa with them was the turning point. I left feeling lighter, like I’d found people who truly understood.”

Ms Wright completed her final chemotherapy in November 2024, ringing the remission bell that very day. Her body is still healing, and so is her mind. Survivors guilt, neuropathy, and the emotional aftermath don’t simply disappear.

But each month, she grows stronger. Now, as a Patron of the Trudy Crowley Foundation, Ms Wright is committed to carrying Trudy’s mission forward.

She echoes Bridgeen’s words, “Know your body, know your normal,” to help others to advocate for themselves and, through the guidance of the Trudy Crowley Foundation, feel truly supported through the hardest chapters of their lives.

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