The man who founded a cancer charity and contributed to the work of Professor Roger Reddel 30 years ago, visited CMRI last month to invest in the next generation of researchers.

Col Reynolds OAM is founder of The Kids’ Cancer Project and a valued supporter of CMRI.

In the 1980s Mr Reynolds was a tour bus driver who noticed children with bald heads outside Children’s Hospital, which in those days was located in Camperdown. He started out taking the patients on day trips around Sydney and soon realised that the best way to help them was through investing in research.

One of the earliest recipients of his philanthropy was cancer researcher, Dr Roger Reddel, who is now the Lorimer Dods Professor and Director of CMRI. Mr Reynolds bought Dr Reddel’s laboratory an ultra-low-temperature freezer for preserving valuable research samples.

Today, The Kids’ Cancer Project is supporting 57 scientists including Dr Noa Lamm-Shalem who recently established CMRI’s Nuclear Dynamics Group. She was honoured to be awarded the Col Reynolds Fellowship earlier this year.

Last month Mr Reynolds visited CMRI to meet Dr Lamm and catch up with Prof Reddel.

“All the advances in medicine throughout history have been made possible through science,’’ Mr Reynolds said. “What I love is going into labs and seeing that equipment that I funded years ago is now obsolete – it’s great to see those advances that are just out of this world.’’

Dr Lamm spoke to Mr Reynolds about her work delving into the mechanisms that cancers use to become resistant to treatment with a focus on childhood cancer.

“The fellowship means so much to my ability to do research,’’ she said.

Mr Reynolds said he would never stop talking about research until cancer was cured.

“To open up a door from a dark passage and offer light for people – that’s what I’m passionate about.

“In my lifetime I’d like to see cancer in the history books. The greatest gift you can make is to give a child their life back.’’