In 2020 the Florence Petersen Leukaemia Trust and the SAM Trust merged to form the LifeBlood Trust.

Background:

The Florence Petersen Leukaemia Trust

The Florence Petersen Leukaemia Trust was established in 1991 with a seeding grant from the estate of Florence Petersen in memory of her son who had been a haematology patient at Wellington Hospital. The trust deed allows the trust to allocate funding to support haematology patients in the Wellington region. Two years later, in 1993, the late Kenneth Walker Street of England bequeathed a sum of money and one fifth of his estate to the trust.

The SAM Trust

The SAM Trust was established in 2005 in memory of Sam Bowie who passed away in July 2004, aged 27 years, after a 12-year battle with leukaemia. A special and talented young man who inspired all he met; his courage ensured he lived far longer than his cancer seemed to plan.

Sam’s life was filled with hospital visits – some short – some long, including treatment at Wellington Hospital, the Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, and Hammersmith Hospital in the UK.

Through all this, his family and friends learned to make hospitals their home, their existence.

The doctors and nurses became familiar and respected friends. His family recognised that a little money could make a difference; that life at hospital could be significantly better for patients, nursing staff and visitors.

The trust funds a range of services to make life more tolerable for haematology patients

More recently a donation has gone to the Malaghan Institute to employ a Clinical registrar for the car-T cell program that will benefit patients with advanced leukaemia and limited options.

Learn more about the car-T cell project here and the media release here.

Apply for support

Would you like to have a greater impact on blood cancer care in Wellington, New Zealand?

Click on the “Get Started” button below and complete the online application form to apply for funding support.