How we began: two brothers, one loss, one survival. From Graeme’s memory to Steve’s victory, a patient-led system was born to outpace cholangiocarcinoma.

Graeme Holmes, RIP 2014

You called with terrifying news.
You had cholangiocarcinoma.
You were scared. I was frozen.

I was your older brother.
You looked to me, and I could do nothing.
You passed.
But you will be proud.

We built the system that did not exist.
For your kids. For others like you.

That’s how I carry your name.
Graeme, that’s how we win — together.

— Steve Holmes

Donating is not casual here. We take it seriously.

We don’t want you to donate or invest until you understand why we do what we do. Because once you do, you’ll know this isn’t an advocacy or a charity with its hand out. It’s a survival system, built to break through what fails patients, and to build what works every day.

Traditional advocacy is broken and ineffective. While patients remain passengers, survival will always lag. We know this because we’ve lived it every day.

The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia was founded by Steve and Claire Holmes. Built not in policy rooms or boardrooms, but on the battlefield of this deadly cancer.

Steve is a late-stage IV cholangiocarcinoma survivor. His fight included 25 hours of surgery removing multiple organs, an emergency ruptured aneurysm to his main hepatic artery that nearly ended his life within seconds, and 22 months of experimental clinical trials. Against all odds, he survived. A one percent chance. The first ever Australian survivor, and one of only three in the world from such a late-stage setting.

If not for Claire, Steve would not have survived. She fought every day beside him, navigating chaos, demanding answers, keeping hope alive. Together, they learned what worked and what didn’t. And together, they refused to accept that “care” meant only managing decline.

After survival, they turned back to the battlefield and invested everything they had into building what didn’t exist: a pathway that helps patients reclaim control end to end.

Prevention. Detection. Self-empowerment over health. Effective response.

That freedom liberates.
And when freedom leads, survival follows.

But at the time, none of it existed.

There was no survival plan. The plan was simple: break down this cancer and rebuild a survival system. Not a care model. A system of response. A culture of survival. And they built it.

But survival did not end with Steve. His younger brother, Graeme, had already died from the same disease. With their children’s future in their hands, Steve and Claire gave everything — resources, hope, even their own security — to build a system that could change outcomes for every family.

What began with lived expertise has grown into a patient and caregiver-led survival culture that is now recognised nationally and globally. The Foundation is effective and nimble, shoulder to shoulder on the battlefield with patients and families. Every call is answered. Patients are triaged out of shock. Families are guided from confusion to clarity. Where no systems or tools existed, they built them. Tested in real time on the frontline.

We could never shy from the battlefield.

The government has not funded this work. Steve and Claire have. But they cannot sustain it alone. They have built the path. Now it must be carried, and funded, by the community it was built to serve.

It wasn’t built to talk. It was built to act.
Not to conform to what fails patients, but to break through what wasn’t working.

This is more than a service.
It is a patient-led survival system.
A culture.
A force of change.

The System You Are Investing In

That’s why your investment is not scattered. It fuels three survival systems, each tested, proven, and changing outcomes now.

1. Optimal Patient Response (OPR) Pathway Initiative

The first survival system of its kind, helping patients and families move from shock to strategy to effective response.

• Navigator Journals: step-by-step guides that help patients take control from day one.

• Patient Response Units (PRUs): putting patient and caregiver expertise to work on the gaps the system ignores.

• Second Opinion Project: ensuring no one is left without fast access to specialist review.

• Patient-Endorsed Medical Registry: connecting patients with trusted clinicians who have exact experience.

• Patient-to-Patient programs: online and live, building strength through shared experience.

2. Light Australia Green Initiative

A national movement uniting communities, medical professionals, healthcare and science, illuminating landmarks in support of patients and families.

• World Cholangiocarcinoma Day and February Awareness Month

• National symposium partnerships: with pharma, clinicians, and scientists, building towards a landmark GI cancer conference in 2026.

• Live events and fundraisers: powered by both the Foundation and patients, ensuring no initiative stands alone.

3. Bile Health Mandate

Driving innovation into discovery, prevention, and early detection.

• Bile Bank: the first of its kind, collecting and analysing bile to uncover how these cancers form and how they can be prevented.

• Research collaborations: shaping national and global projects, influencing guidelines, and rewriting standards of care.

• Prevention and detection strategy: because the cure is in the cause.

The Standard We Live By

“Nature, to be commanded, must first be obeyed.” – Francis Bacon

We obey the lessons of survival. One filter drives every action:

Does this help a patient survive today, and enhance overall survivorship, now?

If not, we don’t do it.

Persistence and perseverance are often mistaken for passion or luck.
In truth, it is persistence — the kind that carried Steve through his survival, and Claire through every battle beside him — that makes survival possible.

We’ve done the hard part.
We’ve built the system.
Now it must be scaled — with you.

This is the code we built.
This is how we win.