Constant shooting pains and a throat burned from radiation can't stop the driving force behind the newly independent charity Love Your Sister, but unfortunately it slows her down.
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Connie Johnson is dying of breast cancer. Despite this, or perhaps in spite of it, she and brother Samuel Johnson are well on their way to raising $10 million for cancer research. Earlier this week the charity reached $3 million in their quest for a cure.
To ramp up the already popular campaign, Connie put a call out to her Facebook followers in Canberra to join the Love Your Sister community in a bigger way than by just clicking "like".
She asked for volunteers to help her do all the things she wants to achieve, but doesn't have the time or energy to do.
She hoped 20 people might put up their hands to help. She was amazed when she was inundated with more than 200.
Connie has named her village of volunteers the Love Your Sister Army, to reflect the battle they're undertaking in fighting cancer.
"When I put the call out asking if people wanted to join the army, I said something military-like about fighting cancer," Connie said.
"People responded in their email saying, 'reporting for duty' and 'ready when you are, captain'. They got the reference and really took it on because it is a fight against something very serious, it's a fight against a genetic disaster called cancer."
Sadly, it's a losing battle for Connie, but one she desperately wants to win for others. Fundraising, with the help of the volunteer army, is set to reach greater heights next year with a gala ball, trivia night, 1980s-themed disco and family fun day.
At the moment, Connie is searching for office space to house all the merchandise for the online site, most of which is taking up space in her family's apartment.
While Love Your Sister has been around since 2013, when it began with Samuel riding around Australia on a unicycle with a goal of raising $1 million for cancer, it was initially a fundraising arm for the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. With one paid staff member and two volunteers – Samuel and Connie – Love Your Sister was a small but powerful force.
It took the mentorship of a few "significant business minds" to encourage the small team to utilise the free workforce they had available to them in the form of their huge community of faithful Facebook followers, which has reached more than 350,000.
"We're doing a good job and nobody is denying we're working hard but were not harnessing the full potential of everything," Connie said.
"We've got a lot of love out there in the community and we were not tapping into that."
Connie said things were going by the wayside because the team didn't have the time or the knowledge to know how to best manage them. She hopes by engaging volunteers, the $10 million goal will be in reach.
Contact the team at constance@loveyoursister.org
