Miss G's bequest leaves a lasting legacy for future generations
Beloved and accomplished piano teacher Patricia Mary Gleeson ensures that her legacy of striving for excellence continues for younger generations, with a generous gift in her Will to support childhood disease research.
PATRICIA MARY GLEESON 7/11/1927 - 12/5/2022
A transformational gift from the estate of Patricia Mary Gleeson is enabling Murdoch Children's Research Institute to accelerate research into childhood diseases.
Patricia Gleeson, known to many as Miss G, was a renowned piano teacher who attracted high-performing music students from all over the world to her small home studio in Ballarat, regional Victoria. Conversations with a close friend who worked in healthcare sparked her interest in MCRI, and she came to see its work as vital.
In May 2022, Patricia passed away. She is remembered as a sincere and generous person whose lifelong passion was supporting the growth of children and young people.
"I began my piano lessons with Miss G during my fifth grade of music, which was in 1980," said Lauren Knight, a close friend of Patricia's.
"I highly valued her opinion and wisdom, and she inspired me to become a piano teacher. She generously gave her time, talents and energy to her community, students and friends. She was a woman of great integrity and thought."
Over the years, Patricia and Lauren became close friends. Lauren said she learned a lot from her wisdom and knowledge of people.
Lauren Knight (left) with Patricia Mary Gleeson
"She was always helping other people to grow. She certainly helped me to grow in many ways, more than one can imagine."
Having positively influenced the lives of so many young people as a pianist and teacher, Patricia's dedication to making a meaningful difference to the lives of children continues, thanks to her bequest in support of child health research.
"Her great interest throughout her life was young people," said Lauren. "Through music and education, her life's work was centred on children and young adults. She felt that the research being undertaken by the Institute specific to children's health was very important."
Patricia's decision to gift her estate to MCRI would have been carefully considered to reflect the values of her late parents and brother, Lauren said.
She was acutely aware that her passing would be the end of her family line. In this way, her gift reflects not only her own generous legacy, but that of her family as well.
Patricia's bequest arrives at a critical moment for medical research, providing essential support for two projects with a particular focus on brain cancer research.
Patricia Mary Gleeson in her youth
Technology to accelerate medical discoveries
The first project is a collaboration between MCRI, the Children's Cancer Centre at The Royal Children's Hospital and the Children's Cancer Centre Biobank to better understand brain tumours in children and adolescents.
The first Thermo Scientific Orbitrap™ Astral™ Mass Spectrometer installed in Australia – and one of the first in the world – is now helping to accelerate research into childhood diseases from brain cancer to muscular dystrophy.
Thanks to Patricia's generous gift, this machine will enable researchers to study proteins faster and with more precision, accelerating discoveries into stem cells and childhood diseases.
"Working with leading experts at MCRI, combined with the power of this new equipment will drive discoveries that could lead to effective new treatments for devastating childhood diseases," said MCRI Associate Professor Sean Humphrey.
One of the team's first projects is a collaboration with MCRI Professors David Eisenstat and Silvia Velasco towards understanding the disease mechanisms in the most common malignant childhood brain tumour, medulloblastoma.
Improving outcomes for patients
Patricia's gift is also generously supporting BRAINtegrate, an alliance for better outcomes in young people with brain cancer and epilepsy.
Epilepsy and brain cancers are serious health issues affecting children, teenagers and young adults. They are the most common reasons for brain surgery in these age groups and the two conditions often occur together.
While it is not fully understood how these conditions develop, it is believed that there are similar genetic factors contributing to both epilepsy and brain cancers.
To create better patient outcomes, a continuous research loop and coordinated interdisciplinary collaboration is required. Diagnosis, discovery and treatments can then all work hand-in-hand.
Complementing other sources of funding such as the Medical Research Future Fund, Patricia's visionary support will help unify research efforts across all neurosurgical cohorts. This will improve diagnosis and understanding of patients' conditions, support better care for patients and help develop personalised medicine.
An inspiring legacy of community support
Patricia wanted to "leave the world quietly, with the least inconvenience to others,” Lauren said.
"She gave many personal items to friends and relatives over the last decade, sometimes returning gifts to the giver, but also placing items of significance to her with people who would value them.
"She gave books to the colleges in Ballarat and gradually gave away her music collection and special family items."
MCRI would like to express its deepest and most heartfelt gratitude to Patricia for her visionary gift, which brings us closer to providing much-needed answers and improved treatments for childhood diseases, particularly brain cancer.
Life-changing discoveries take time and visionary support by people who can look to the future and imagine a better, healthier and happier world for every child. Gifts in wills are vital for research that will transform the health of children in the future.
To learn more about MCRI's bequest program, please contact beque show email address
Left-right: Hannah Huckstep (Senior Researcher), Associate Professor Sean Humphrey (Group Leader Functional Phosphoproteomics), Lauren and Roger Knight, James Burgess (Research Assistant)