Carolyn (Caro) Boyd

I am delighted to be a new Gillies McIndoe Ambassador and Guardian. I live and work in Marton, near Whanganui, New Zealand. Both my parents were nurses so I’m familiar with health-related matters. Sadly, my husband, Brian died in 2006 of melanoma. In February 2023, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma.  I have undergone multiple surgeries with reconstructive plastic surgeon Dr Swee Tan to my mandible and bilateral neck dissection, followed by radiation therapy and am now receiving oral rehabilitation at Hutt Hospital. The challenging journey I've experienced is precisely why the research at Gillies McIndoe is so vital.

Given the huge respect I have for his surgical abilities and for his compassion towards people suffering disfiguring diseases, I wish to support the Gillies McIndoe Research Institute that Dr Tan founded in the late 1990s. I have learnt about the innovative research the Institute does in the biomedical research field and I would like to do what I can to shine a light on this, where I can.

As I have no children, I have also pledged to remember Gillies McIndoe Foundation in my Will with a bequest and leave them a percentage of my estate, to help them continue their great work in the future.

 Also, as a coincidence, the Institute is named in part as a homage to Sir Harold Delf Gillies, the renowned plastic surgeon considered the pioneer of modern reconstructive plastic surgery, and a cousin of my great-grandmother Agnes Casbourne Douglas (nee Gillies), who was born in 1878 in Dunedin, which is where Sir Harold and his family came from.

 To tighten up the connection of her cancer diagnosis, her journey through harsh treatments, and to connect the first paragraph to the second; I added this bit in from her first email back to me and my response back to her.