Jane Louise McGrath (née Steele; 4 May 1966 – 22 June 2008) was an English-Australian cancer support campaigner, and the wife of former Australian cricket fast bowler Glenn McGrath.

Background

Jane Louise Steele was born on 4 May 1966 to Jen and Roy Steele, a newsagent (since retired) in

Paignton Paignton ( ) is a seaside town on the coast of Tor Bay in Devon, England. Together with Torquay and Brixham it forms the unitary authority, borough of Torbay which was created in 1968. The Torbay area is a holiday destination known as the Engli ...

in the English county of

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

. She worked as a

flight attendant A flight attendant is a member of the aircrew whose primary responsibility is ensure the safety of passengers in the cabin of an aircraft across all stages of flight. Their secondary duty is to see to the comfort of passengers. Flight attenda ...

for

Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, West Sussex, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic A ...

when she met her future husband in a

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

nightclub in 1995. They married in 1999 at the Garrison Church and had two children. She became an Australian citizen on

Australia Day Australia Day is the official national day of Australia. Observed annually on 26 January, it marks the 1788 landing of the First Fleet and raising of the Flag of Great Britain, Union Flag of Great Britain by Arthur Phillip at Sydney Cove, a ...

, 26 January 2002. McGrath was made a

Member of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AM) on 26 January 2008 for service to community health through support for women with breast cancer and the establishment of the

McGrath Foundation The McGrath Foundation is a breast cancer support and education charity in Australia, which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities across Australia and increase breast health awareness. The charity was founded by Aus ...

Cancer

McGrath first learned she had

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

in 1997 at the age of 31. Following a

mastectomy Mastectomy is the medical term for the surgical removal of one or both breasts, partially or completely. A mastectomy is usually carried out to treat breast cancer. In some cases, women believed to be at high risk of breast cancer choose to have ...

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

and

radiotherapy Radiation therapy or radiotherapy (RT, RTx, or XRT) is a treatment using ionizing radiation, generally provided as part of cancer therapy to either kill or control the growth of malignant cells. It is normally delivered by a linear particle ...

, she was deemed cancer-free by June 1998. Despite fears that cancer treatment may have left her sterile, she later gave birth to two children who were both breast-fed. In 2003, McGrath was diagnosed with metastatic disease in her bones. In 2004, she appeared with her husband on Andrew Denton's '' Enough Rope'' on the ABC, describing her work for the foundation and her personal experiences. In early 2006,

brain metastasis A brain metastasis is a cancer that has metastasis, metastasized (spread) to the brain from another location in the body and is therefore considered a brain tumor, secondary brain tumor. The metastasis typically shares a Cancer cell, cancer cell ...

was found and by May, she was undergoing radiation treatment at three-week intervals. The

tumour A neoplasm () is a type of abnormal and excessive growth of tissue (biology), tissue. The process that occurs to form or produce a neoplasm is called neoplasia. The growth of a neoplasm is uncoordinated with that of the normal surrounding tiss ...

was found and successfully removed. At the time, she lost her hair and became depressed, but again went into remission and continued her work with the foundation. She became severely ill in mid-June 2008 and died on the morning of 22 June at her Cronulla home; she was 42. McGrath's funeral was held at the Garrison Church.

McGrath Foundation

In 2005, Glenn and Jane McGrath founded the McGrath Foundation, a charitable organisation dedicated to raising money to fund breast care nurses in rural and regional Australia, and to increase breast awareness in young women. As of May 2022, 177 McGrath breast care nurses have been placed in communities throughout Australia, supporting over 67,000 Australian families experiencing breast cancer. The third day of the first Sydney Test cricket match at the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

each year is now known as Jane McGrath Day, where money is raised for the McGrath Foundation. Spectators at the SCG wear pink to show their support, and sponsor logos in various places are also recoloured pink for the match. The Ladies Stand is also temporarily renamed The Jane McGrath Stand for the day. On 5 January 2013, Australian Prime Minister

Julia Gillard Julia Eileen Gillard (born 29 September 1961) is an Australian former politician who served as the 27th prime minister of Australia from 2010 to 2013. She held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously served as the ...

announced an $18.5 million donation to the McGrath Foundation from the Australian Government. The funding allowed all 44 existing McGrath breast care nurse positions to continue and expand the program by 10 full-time equivalent places.

References

;Specific ;General * * *

External links

The McGrath Foundation
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGrath, Jane 1966 births 2008 deaths English emigrants to Australia Deaths from cancer in New South Wales Deaths from breast cancer in Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia Flight attendants Members of the Order of Australia People from Paignton Activists from Sydney Founders of charities