Canberra mother and Order of Australia recipient, Sarah McGoram OAM, is set to climb Australia’s highest peak this weekend in the Rare Cancers Australia (RCA) Kosi Challenge. With her husband Tom by her side, she’ll tackle the 21km route from Thredbo Village to the summit and back, joining 700 others raising funds and awareness for those living with rare and less common cancers.
At just 18, Sarah was diagnosed with Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours (GIST), a rare cancer that has shaped her entire adult life. It was two decades before she met someone who truly understood her journey—RCA Co-Founder Kate Vines.
“When I was diagnosed, there were no support groups, no real information, and I didn’t know a single other person with the same condition. I was 18 and completely lost,” Sarah recalls.
A moment of desperation led her to call RCA’s support line, where Kate answered. “She listened to my questions, helped me understand why I was slipping through the cracks, and assured me I wasn’t alone. That one conversation changed everything.”
Sarah has been supported by RCA ever since, and this year she’s well enough to take on the challenge, determined to give back.
“This event brings together people who often feel isolated in their cancer experience. Climbing a mountain, raising awareness, and raising funds—it’s proof that people care and that change is possible.”
Rare and less common cancers account for one in four cancer diagnoses in Australia, yet they cause one in three cancer deaths, claiming more than 16,000 lives annually.
RCA CEO Christine Cockburn says those diagnosed face not just a fight for survival but an uphill battle against an unfair system.
“Individually, rare and less common cancers seem small in numbers, but together, they represent a major public health challenge,” she says.
“Access to expert care and essential treatment is limited, and the financial burden is crushing. This ‘cancer lottery’ isn’t just unfair, it’s devastating—and it needs to change.”
That’s why RCA exists, and why hundreds will be climbing Mount Kosciuszko this weekend.
Sarah’s challenge won’t end at the summit. Once she completes the climb, she’ll head straight to Sydney for radiation therapy as part of her ongoing treatment. But this weekend, she won’t let that overshadow the sense of purpose that’s driving her forward.
“There are so many patients who can’t take on this climb, so I’m doing it for them. We may be rare, but together, we are many.”
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