Spotlight On... 

Daniela Ruberto 

Class of 1987

Daniela Ruberto (née Romei), an extremely well-deserving nominee in the 2017 Past Pupils of Distinction,  co-founded the Isabella and Marcus Paediatric Brainstem Tumour Fund after her son Marcus was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer called Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG) that typically occurs in children under the age of twelve years.

Brain cancer kills more children than any other disease in Australia and those diagnosed with DIPG typically die within a year. The only treatment available is radiotherapy, which temporarily reduces symptoms.

Daniela’s son Marcus passed away on 15 November 2009, just nine weeks after his diagnosis and surrounded by his family and friends, people who loved and adored him. Daniela and her husband Tony donated his tumour to medical research in the pursuit to extend and improve the quality of life for children diagnosed with brainstem tumours and to ultimately find a cure!                                               

Brain cancer research in children is underfunded and underlies why there are no treatments for DIPG.  In order to address this, the Isabella and Marcus Paediatric Brainstem Tumour Fund was co-founded by Daniela and Tony and the parents of Isabella, another child who passed away from DIPG. The charity has provided seven grants for research, ongoing funding to improve research infrastructure and PhD scholarships, to train the next generation of paediatric brain cancer researchers.

This year, the charity will fund a clinical trial in Australia that will evaluate three new drugs. Team Isabella and Marcus have raised a total of $1 million plus towards children’s brain cancer research in Australia.

College Memories

Daniela shares, 'As a past student of Kilbreda my school memories are full of happiness, laughter and the beginning of many lifetime friendships.

I reflect upon my years at Kilbreda with great joy, filled with great teachers who I remember fondly and I felt that they really cared about the girls.

The friends I made during my Kilbreda years are some of my closest friends to this day.  We have become family.

These girls are the ones who never left my side during Marcus’ illness and continue to walk beside me, I feel blessed to have such beautiful friends in my life.

Thanks Kilbreda! Great years - great time'!

Daniela Ruberto (née Romei)

​Class of 1987

You can help

If you would like to assist in funding Australian research into paediatric brainstem tumours with a focus on DIPG then please visit the Isabella and Marcus Paediatric Brainstem Tumour Fund page at www.isabellaandmarcusfund.org.au