Carrie Bickmore made an emotional speech as she was named the 2026 Victorian Australian of the Year for Victoria for her tireless work on her foundation Beanies 4 Brain Cancer.
The 44-year-old said the moment was “bittersweet” as it would never have come about if she hadn’t lost her first husband Greg Lange to brain cancer in 2010.
“I wouldn’t be here unless my late husband died,” she began in a video she posted to her Instagram on Friday morning. “And so while I graciously accept the award, if you I could go back and make that little 21-year-old Carrie not have to watch her boyfriend have a seizure in bed and have a nine-year battle with brain cancer, I would do that.
“And I couldn’t, and I can’t, and it was one of the most horrific things I’ve ever watched and it took me a long time to know what to do post that, because when you’ve been through something like that you just want to runaway from it, because it’s just all consuming and horrendous to go through,” she continued.
“Then I realised with my platform I had the ability to make sure no amazing man like Greg, no other young girl like myself, who hadn’t even worked out what life was going to be for her, would have to go through something like that.”
In June, the mum-of-three had to draw on all the optimism and self-belief she had to make it through the biggest physical and mental challenge of her life – running the Big 5 Marathon in South Africa to raise money for Beanies 4 Brain Cancer.
Sharing her gruelling journey with her followers on Instagram, Carrie admitted that she “almost quit” at one point, but her teammates helped her through and together they raised an incredible $1.1 million and counting for cancer sufferers.
“I did it,” she wrote, noting she didn’t care that she came last in their group. “It’s not about how you get there, it just matters that you get there. Try it. It’s life-changing.”
CARRIE BICKMORE’S BIG WIN!
No one could argue that it was an emotionally draining few months for Carrie as she fundraised tirelessly for her brain cancer foundation, coming across Australian families who have lost loved ones to the disease, just as she lost her first husband Greg Lange in 2010.
An insider tells Woman’s Day that often, the naturally caring star can’t help but take on the weight of other people’s hardships.
“She’s always been someone who is full of empathy for others, but at the same time is very tough on herself,” the longtime colleague says.
“She has an extraordinary sense of compassion for people who are struggling – like many like her, sometimes they take on too much crusading and trailblazing, and end up wearing themselves out.”
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Carrie, who has been solo parenting her children Ollie, 17, Evie, 10, and Adelaide, six, in the wake of her split from Chris Walker, admitted she’d been feeling especially anxious three days out from the big run as she’d been struck down with sickness and her body had “just fallen apart”.
In the candid, relatable way that has made her so beloved around the nation, Carrie confessed that finishing the “horrible” race took everything she had in her tank. “I really struggled. And was angry at myself that I was finding it so hard. I felt completely and utterly overwhelmed when I finished,” she shared on Instagram, alongside a video of her crying during the run.
“I am a mum of three, terrible hips, found it hard to fit in training… I am NOT an athlete. But I did it. And you absolutely can do hard challenges too.”
SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT
An insider says despite the road being a rough one, the huge sense of accomplishment will give Carrie the confidence and encouragement she needs to keep pushing herself – even when the going gets tough.
“Running that marathon and almost quitting halfway through, but in the end finding the strength to finish it, will help her enormously in whatever she next sets her sights on,” the source says. “What many of us who have worked with her realised early on, she actually just needs to exhale and realise what a superwoman she is! And that she has nothing to prove to anyone.”
Carrie’s been an inspiration to not only those affected by cancer, but to the small group of teammates who joined her on the other side of the world.
“To Bickers – your heart, your vision, your strength. I’m in awe of you. This charity and what you’ve built with Carrie’s Beanies 4 Brain Cancer is nothing short of extraordinary,” teammate
Elliot Garnaut shared.
