Carine Leeflang
To Carine the idea of leaving behind a gift in her Will has always been important. She has kindly shared her story to encourage others to do the same.
John and Melba Hilton
It was the long term goal of achieving a cancer free society that lay at the heart’s of their decision to include a gift in their Wills to Cancer Council WA.
The retired Perth couple were determined to include a charitable gift in their Wills as part of their financial planning, and Cancer Council WA was an obvious choice.
John and Melba are passionate about cancer research and they take comfort in knowing their gift is going to the state’s leading independent, evidence-based cancer organisation and the only one fighting every cancer from every angle.
“Cancer strikes so many” says John. “We thought the only thing that’s going to change anything is research – and good research costs money”.
Ironically, two years after including a gift in his Will, John himself was diagnosed with cancer. He’s since received treatment and is thankfully now in remission.
“You can sit back and say I’m immune but you have to look to future generations,” John said.
“We know there’s an end goal that we want to be a part of, it won’t happen in our lifetime but there is a bigger goal.”
“It’s nice to know our planning now will benefit others in the future,” Melba said.
Iris Bennett
The Scots have a reputation for being smart with their money – and Iris Bennett is happy to reinforce the stereotype.
Iris might consider Craigie to be her home these days, but in her soft Scottish lilt, she explains the decision to include a gift to Cancer Council WA in her Will.
“I was executor for dear friends who died from cancer,” Iris says. “For one, the time from diagnosis to her death was just 10 weeks.”
With her only family back in Scotland, Iris made what she considers a wise choice, “everything except my house goes to Cancer Council WA,” she says.
However, Iris doesn’t intend to hand over anything any time soon. “It’s nice to think I’ll be able to help, but I’m planning to around for a while yet!”