OUR AMBASSADORS AND PATRON
Paralympian Ellie Cole is like no one you've ever met before. After losing her right leg to cancer at age 3 she has gone on to become one of Australia's most successful paralympians. She now has 17 Paralympic medals under her belt, an OAM for her achievements and service to Australian sport, and the whole of Australia behind her. She’s raw and real, funny and wonderfully charismatic. She is refreshingly humble, modest, and completely unaware of the true inspiration she is.
Josh Papalii is a professional rugby league footballer who plays as a prop for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL. He has played for both Australia and Samoa at the national level. He has played for Queensland in the State of Origin series and the Prime Minister's XIII. Crowned the Meninga Medalist for the club's Player of the Season on three occasions, Josh Papalii has established himself as one of the best props in the game.
Matt Giteau became one of eight Wallabies to reach 100 caps in his return to Test Rugby in 2015, after a four-year absence. Giteau added 10 Tests to his previous 92 caps, scoring a try in Australia’s emphatic Rugby World Cup pool win over England. Under the ARU’s former contracting rules, Giteau was not available for national selection, however, an updated foreign player policy allowed the 2009 John Eales Medallist to return to the Wallabies ahead of the Rugby Championship. Matt is also the brother of Kristy Giteau, founder of Win the Day, and son of Ron Giteau.
Jesinta and Lance “Buddy” Franklin have cemented their status as Australia’s golden couple, in both sporting and social circles. Jesinta is fast becoming one of television’s most popular presenters as she juggles her on-screen roles with her many charity and media commitments and modelling and ambassador roles. Buddy is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Franklin is the ninth-highest goalkicker in VFL/AFL history with 910 career goals, which is the most of any current player and has led his clubs' goalkicking ten times. He has been selected in the All-Australian team on seven occasions (three at full forward and four at centre half-forward) and has won four Coleman Medals throughout his career.
We are thrilled to announce new ambassadors, Olympians Sharni Williams and Henry Hutchinson. Sharni is the captain of the Australian Women’s Sevens team and an OAM recipient receiving her Order of Australia Medal on Australia Day 2017. She is an Olympic gold medallist, World Series winner and aims to win her day, each and every day. Henry is also a rugby sevens player first playing on the world series in 2015 where he dominated the world stage claiming World Rugby Sevens Rookie of the Year in 2016. Hutchinson is a backing up to vice captain the men’s team at the Tokyo Olympics, aiming to bring back a gold medal like Ka’ili’s golden smile.
Professor Glenn Marshall is our patron here at Win the Day. He is Head of Translational Research at Children's Cancer Institute, Head of the Gene Regulation in Cancer Theme, Clinical Lead of Zero Childhood Cancer Program, and Group Leader of the Embryonal Cancer Therapy and Prevention Group. Glenn is a paediatric haematologist and oncologist who headed the Kids Cancer Centre at Sydney Children’s Hospital, Randwick, for 18 years. He leads a number of childhood cancer and chronic illness research networks, clinical research development within ZCC, the Kids Cancer Alliance in NSW, and Kids to Adults Alliance, a new national network aimed at addressing the problems of survivorship for children with chronic illness or disability. He is also a Conjoint Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at UNSW Australia.