PRESS RELEASE: QLD Blood donation advocate, Kate Fisher wins GOLD as Woman Changing the World of the Year!
Kate Fisher, Founder of Milkshakes for Marleigh, has won GOLD for Podcast of the Year, Author of the Year and Woman Changing the World of the Year at the 2024 AusMumpreneur Awards.
Kate also won 3rd place, bronze awards in categories Non-Profit and Making a Difference (People’s Choice).
The 15th AusMumpreneur Awards were held in Melbourne, 14 August 2024. Presented by The Women’s Business School, they celebrate and recognize women in business achieving outstanding success in areas such as business excellence, product development, customer service and digital innovation.
Sunshine Coast, QLD’s Kate Fisher was thrilled to win gold awards because, “this recognition of having the best podcast and book Australia will give me opportunities to share the Milkshakes for Marleigh story with new audiences, meaning I can thank blood donors and encourage new ones.”
The irony for Fisher is that it’s not gold trophies that she needs to keep her daughter Marleigh, aged 8, alive. Marleigh became unwell at the age of 3 with Autoimmune Encephalitis, a life threatening condition where her immune system attacks her brain. While there is no cure for Marleigh’s condition, treatment is possible with Immunoglobulin treatment made from plasma. This is both lifesaving and life preserving for Marleigh and has so far gifted her “5 bonus years”.
Kate says, “blood donors don’t just keep people alive they keep families together. 1 in 3 Australians need blood in their lifetime and when Marleigh is at her sickest, we can only prolong her life for 10 days at a time with plasma infusion. If not enough people donate between her infusions, her life is in danger.
I am deeply honored to win these awards but the irony is that no amount of gold trophies can save Marleigh’s life. I need Aussie’s to keep donating the liquid gold (plasma) so that Marleigh can have more bonus years with us!”
This is the second big win for Kate this year. In May, 2024 she was invited by the Duchess of York, Sarah Fergusson, to the United Kingdom to address The Women Changing the World Summit about the way she is revolutionizing blood donation advocacy. While in London, she was awarded the Women Changing the World Global Impact: Non-Profit Award in recognition of the thousands of lives that are saved every year by the blood donations made by those the Milkshakes for Marleigh story inspires.
Kate balances her advocacy alongside being a mother at the helm of a family with additional needs. She gives this advice for others thinking about starting their own enterprise, “sometimes the most potent business ideas are inspired by the challenges we face. Don’t be afraid to embrace the creative ideas and business ideas that emerge in the moments of great desperation and vulnerability that motherhood can bring.”
Iconic World Surfing Champions, Layne Beachly delivered the keynote address at the AusMumpreneur Gala Awards events and presented Share the Dignity’s, Rochelle Courtenay with AusMumpreneur of the Year 2024 in recognition of her work ending period poverty in Australia.
Kate’s book, “Milkshakes for Marleigh: Extraordinary tales of survival thanks to Australian blood donors” was released in June 2024 and is available in all good bookstores, Peribo Distributers and KMD Books.
Kate will be “In conversation with Hedley Thomas” at a Milkshakes for Marleigh book event at Avid Reader, Brisbane, 9 September 2024.
https://avidreader.com.au/pages/10195-KateFisher-MilkshakesforMarleigh
You can download the Milkshakes for Marleigh Podcast on all platforms.
For more information about the Milkshakes for Marleigh blood donation advocacy movement please visit:
www.milkshakesformarleigh.org
For an interview with Kate Fisher:
Ph:0447600625
E : [email protected]
Insta: Kate Fisher @milkshakes_for_marleigh
Read more at: ausmumpreneur.com
For more information on the AusMumpreneur Awards visit: ausmumpreneur.com or contact Peace Mitchell at [email protected]
