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ASB Good As Gold: Cate Pallett

15 March 2017 / Published in Your Community
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ASB Good as Gold is an ASB initiative recognising, rewarding and helping wonderful people in our community. We ask the public to nominate people who are making a real difference in their community, have grabbed hold of life against the odds or who really deserve help in a time of hardship. The recipients are featured on TV One’s Seven Sharp programme.

For someone who has been through so much, Cate Pallett still has a wide smile and stays positive about life. She’s the kind of person that inspires you to think about the things that really matter.

Cate is a cancer survivor.  As a teenager, she had a brain tumour, triumphing over it after receiving radiation treatment and surgery.  During her cancer battle, she recognised there was a lack of support services for teenage cancer patients and she became a founding member of Canteen.

Despite having endured gruelling cancer treatment, when Cate’s sister collapsed at her own wedding and was diagnosed with kidney failure, Cate immediately offered her own kidney – an incredibly selfless act. The donation was a success.

Cate went on to train and work  as a social worker, due to a desire to helps others. Unfortunately, likely due to the treatment Cate received for her brain tumour, she suffered a number of strokes over the years, each taking a bit more of her independence away.

While she’s no longer able to work, she stays positive about her situation and goes about her life with determination and enthusiasm. She is currently confined to a wheelchair but is committed to her rehab, spending most of her time at the gym, and sailing – with her ultimate goal to be able to hand cycle the New York Marathon in 2019.

We thought that she deserved some help for a change so we have bought her a specially made $4,000 handtrike and $3,000 to go towards an airfare for her dream of cycling the New York Marathon. Cate is incredibly strong willed and just keeps going despite everything– we wish her all the best in reaching her goal.

ASB Good As Gold: Cate Pallett

ASB Good As Gold: Cate Pallett

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