2025 Christmas Appeal
Will you be a five-second chance this holiday season and help someone in need?
Help us raise the $245,000 needed to fund our lifesaving research into how the human heart ages.
People like Brian, Jarod, Raj, Ross and Anne need your help.
- They all had a failing heart and a family on the edge.
- They all needed a five-second chance in their lives.
By making a gift before midnight, December 24, you become that second-chance gift and provide a new lease on life for someone else in need through the life-saving research of The Baird Institute.
Let me share with you their stories and what a five-second chance means to each of them:
Brian McCarthy, 82
After fatigue made driving dangerous, Brian’s 14,000- kilometre road trip became a powerful symbol of freedom, a celebration of life, mobility, and the impact of medical research.
Jarod Tate, 28
Jarod once questioned everything after a sudden diagnosis. Now, thanks to research, he looks ahead with relief and hope knowing he has a future he nearly lost.
Raj Alagendran, 62
After eight years of breathlessness, Raj now walks freely. Each step is a quiet victory and a reminder of how research gave him back a life he can enjoy.
Ross Saunders, 37
Holding his newborn daughter, Ross feels overwhelming joy. He once feared he’d never meet her, but medical advances turned fear into fatherhood and gave him that precious moment.
Anne Lowe, 70
Anne lives with quiet gratitude. Once uncertain she’d survive, she now embraces life thankful for the medical breakthroughs that gave her time she thought she might not have.
Before these second chances, there was a shared reality. A reality of futures clouded by uncertainty. Of simple joys, like a walk with a loved one, becoming monumental challenges. Their worlds were shrinking, defined not by their passions and dreams, but by the constant, draining limitations of a heart that was giving out.
And yet people like you were there for them. It is many hearts beating with one purpose – patients, researchers, and donors like you – that make these second chances possible.
We have launched the world’s first-ever study to understand how the human heart ages at a molecular level. This is our boldest, most ambitious project yet, the consequences of which could reverberate around the world.
At the very heart of this study is something extraordinary – the SYDNEY HEART BANK. The Sydney Heart Bank, located at the University of Sydney, houses over 38,000 carefully preserved heart tissue samples. It is the largest collection of its kind in the world. This unique study allows my team and I to collect tiny heart tissue samples from patients undergoing open-heart surgery which are then stored in the Sydney Heart Bank for further research. What takes only five seconds in the operating room becomes a lifetime of discovery in the lab.
Because of these samples at the Sydney Heart Bank, we’ve already made a pivotal discovery: a key protein called SERCA2, which helps the heart relax and fill with blood, dramatically decreases as we age. This vital clue is pointing us towards a way to slow or even reverse age-related damage to the human heart.
But a clue is not a cure. To truly understand what’s happening, we must look much deeper inside the heart’s cells. Using cutting-edge methods like Spatial Transcriptomics, we can now see exactly which genes are switched on or off – and precisely where in the tissue those changes take place.
By unlocking these intricate patterns, the tissue located at the Sydney Heart Bank, guided by my team’s vision, will enable us to develop entirely new therapies to prevent heart failure in our aging population.
This type of groundbreaking research comes at a significant investment – nearly $245,000 – to help us study how the human heart ages and to ensure that even more people have a five-second chance.
With your support, this bold research will move from the lab to life-saving treatment. Every contribution is critical to providing these chances.
Your support doesn’t just fund research. It turns the hope of five people and many more hearts into one purpose and a tangible reality for millions. Our goal is to raise $245,000 by December 24 to fully fund this transformative project.
Will you help become a part of medical history? We can’t do this without you. Many hearts are counting on your support to help us reach it. Every single dollar is a step toward a future free from the fear of heart disease. Every heartbeat matters. It only takes five seconds to make a difference.
100% of our funding comes from generous supporters just like you, who help us fund our research. This is a rare moment where the path to a breakthrough is crystal clear. The five hearts of our patients have given us the key. Will you take five seconds to make your gift TODAY, before December 24, to help us take the next step in this groundbreaking research?
Donate Now
You can make a valuable, secure, one-off or regular tax-deductible donation below. You will be emailed a receipt
immediately after payment.
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Other ways to donate:
Donate by Bank Transfer
Please arrange a direct transfer from your bank account to ours.
NAB
BSB: 082 057
Account No: 537 822 979
Account name: The Baird Institute Ltd
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Donate by Mail
Simply download a donation form using the link below, complete it, place it in an envelope and send to:
Reply Paid 85
Missenden Road NSW 2050
(no postage stamp necessary).
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