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Medical, Health & Aged Care

The generous legacy helping thousands of lives

Eastern Health

  • Thanks to generous donations to the Eastern Health Foundation, Box Hill Hospital has received a new PET Scanner.

  • The new PET Scanner will help thousands of people each year, to receive detailed images, crucial in diagnosing and staging various conditions, leading to more targeted and effective treatment.

  • Through a dedicated fundraising campaign, the Eastern Health Foundation made the PET Scanner a reality. One of the biggest contributors to the cause was Amber Gooding, who tragically passed from cancer in 2017.

  • The PET Scanner will improve continuity of care and allowing medical professionals to track how patients are responding to therapies and treatments

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PHOTOS & VIDEO: Available for download here. 

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Thanks to the generosity of our local community, Eastern Health Box Hill is now home to a brand new PET Scanner.

The PET Scanner will help thousands of people a year to receive detailed images crucial in diagnosing and staging various conditions, leading to more targeted and effective treatment.

Through a dedicated fundraising campaign, the Eastern Health Foundation made the PET Scanner a reality. One of the biggest contributors to the cause, was Amber Gooding, who tragically passed from cancer in 2017. 

Amber attended Eastern Health to receive care and although she was dealing with a challenging time in her own life, she continued to think of others, and asked for a charity fund to be set up after she passed.

Amber’s father, John Gooding talks about his daughter’s incredibly legacy.

“I'm just so proud of my daughter that she decided, without any family influence, that this money she had would be used for benefit of as many people as possible.

“The PET Scanner was a wonderful sight to see because it's been seven years since my daughter passed away and it's good to see that the funds that she left to the hospital are in full use. 

“She was born in 1978 she attended Monash and RMIT where she did an arts degree, then she did a postgraduate arts degree in New York. She was very talented and she loved life, but unfortunately, she didn't get enough of it.

“Amber was impressed with the care she initially received here at Eastern Health Box Hill when she came back from an overseas holiday not feeling well. The hospital treated her with a great deal of care. They weren't sure what was causing the problems, but after some tests, she was unfortunately diagnosed with mesothelioma, which is an asbestos related cancer,” Mr Gooding said. 

Associate Program Director Nuclear Medicine, Claire du Jardin B.App.Sci.(Med Rad) noted how the new PET Scanner will contribute to excellent care and experiences for all consumers. 

“We are so lucky that our patients are able to access this imaging at Eastern Health. Previously, our patients would be accessing this imaging through various providers. One of the most important aspects of having the PET Scanner is that continuity of care and providing consistent imaging over time ‘in-house’. 

“To be able to have the same scanner and the same imaging protocols, allows really direct comparisons, and allows us to track to see how patients are responding to therapies and treatments. Now the patients can access all of their imaging tests within Eastern Health,” Ms du Jardin said.


Contact details:

Marianna Alepidis

Media Officer

marianthe.alepidis@easternhealth.org.au

0437 875 825