ADELAIDE4WARD 2025
Date: 07 NOVEMBER 2025
STARS UNITE TO RAISE A RECORD-BREAKING $560,000 FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIAN YOUTH WITH CANCER AT SONY FOUNDATION’S ADELAIDE4WARD 2025
On Friday, 7 November, Sony Foundation, the charitable arm of the Sony Group of Companies, delivered in partnership with The Advertiser Foundation, an unforgettable afternoon as prominent South Australian figures gathered at SkyCity Adelaide for Sony Foundation’s annual Adelaide4Ward fundraising lunch, raising a record $560,000; an increase on last year’s total of $380,000.
Funds raised at Adelaide4Ward 2025 will directly support the build of the Adelaide ‘You Can’ Youth Cancer Centre at the Royal Adelaide Hospital; South Australia’s first dedicated space for adolescents and young adults with cancer. This year also marks a major milestone - 15 years of Sony Foundation’s youth cancer initiative ‘You Can’, transforming cancer care for young people nationwide.
The Hon. Peter Malinauskas MP, Premier of South Australia, attended to share an address.
“Any cancer diagnosis is extremely challenging for families, but when affects a young person it is especially so.
“I congratulate the Sony Foundation for its work ensuring young people have somewhere to go when they get to hospital, and making sure they are not alone.
“My government is proud to support this invaluable work,” said The Hon. Peter Malinauskas MP, Premier of South Australia.
The 2025 entertainment extravaganza featured headline performances from (A-Z) artists Dylan Wright and Illy, and a special fireside chat with South Australian Community leaders Elvis Chidi-Ezeama (Founder and CEO, Biomicrology), Flavia Tata Nardini (CEO and Co-Founder, Fleet Space Technologies) and Tim Jarvis AM (Environmental Scientist and Adventurer), moderated by renowned wine writer, Nick Ryan. The centrepiece of the event was a speech from youth cancer patient and advocate Adam Slattery, sharing his inspiring story of resilience.
Adelaide4Ward 2025 was hosted by Giaan Rooney OAM and NOVA’s Jodie Oddy and Andrew ‘Hayesy’ Hayes, and attended by some of South Australia’s most recognisable personalities, including: Alex Dimos, Andrew Costello (Seven), Bruce Djite, Dr Emma McCahon (CEO, Central Adelaide Local Health Network), Jade Robran (Seven & NOVA), Katrina Webb OAM, Rebecca Morse, Samantha Costello, Sophie Ryan-McPhee (CEO, Sony Foundation), Tim Jarvis AM, Tom Hamaguchi (Managing Director, Sony Australia and New Zealand) and Sony Foundation’s South Australia Fundraising Advisory Committee: Nikki Govan AM, Committee Chair (Owner, Star of Greece and Board Director); Antimo Iannella (Entertainment Director, The Advertiser); Diana Williams (Head of Events, Seppeltsfield); Jane Johnson (Chief Executive, StudyAdelaide); Melissa Librandi (Managing Director, SA, NT, WA, News Corp Australia), Melvin Mansell (Chair, The Advertiser Foundation), Peta St Clair (Marketing and Guest Experience Director – Australia, 54), Sarah Abbott, (Owner and Director, Sassafras PR).
Launching in 2024, Adelaide4Ward is the fourth instalment in Sony Foundation’s national ‘4Ward’ event series. For 15 years, the event series has brought together corporate partners in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane raising over $20 million to support Sony Foundation’s youth cancer initiative, ‘You Can’.
You Can was established by Sony Foundation in 2010 in response to the alarming findings of a Senate Inquiry into Australian cancer care, which highlighted the disparities in health outcomes of adolescents and young adults (‘AYA’) with a cancer diagnosis when compared to that of their paediatric and adult counterparts. 15 years on, these gaps still exist, with Minister Butler, Federal Minister for Health, acknowledging in December 2024, that 1 in 4 young cancer patients requiring inpatient care still fall through the cracks.
Too old for children’s hospitals, and too young to be alongside the elderly during their treatment, the number one need identified by the Senate Inquiry was age-appropriate spaces and services in the hospital. To fill this gap, Sony Foundation committed to funding the build of age-appropriate youth cancer centres, within hospitals across Australia. To date, Sony Foundation has funded five ‘You Can’ Youth Cancer Centres in Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Brisbane. In 2024, Sony Foundation announced a commitment to building the first ‘You Can’ Youth Cancer Centre in South Australia, and at Adelaide4Ward 2025 will unveil concept plans.
Sony Foundation’s ‘You Can’ Youth Cancer Centres act as hubs for specialised treatment and wrap-around allied health services, as well as social havens within the hospital for youth cancer patients. The centres offer patients a space to connect with peers and build important support networks. Each Centre is equipped with state-of-the-art technology and entertainment assets from the Sony Group of Companies, including Sony Pictures theatres, Sony Interactive gaming spaces, and Sony Music studios; these immersive environments allow patients to escape the challenges of their diagnosis.
Adam Slattery, 22, knows of these gaps experienced by AYA cancer patients all too well. At just 20, Adam was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a rare and aggressive blood cancer, and was forced him to relocate to Adelaide for treatment not available closer to home in Broken Hill.
For over 60 nights to date, Adam, and his family have been provided free and uncapped accommodation near Adam’s treating hospital through You Can Stay, giving them stability and dignity through the hardest year of their lives, while Adam’s friends continued to live their lives back home.
“There is no way to truly describe [treatment]. It is simply brutal, and each day is an absolute struggle to get through…Those that know me including my medical team know that I developed a hatred of being on the ward and in my room. It has really played with my mental health, and I seriously started to look at avoiding treatment to stay out of hospital,” said Mr Slattery.
“Being a young person with cancer really sucks and living in a regional area away from the treatment centres doesn’t help. From the first day of arriving in Adelaide it became apparent that our lives were going to change… Football and car racing stopped, catching up with friends stopped, going out on a weekend stopped and all I could do was watch my friends live their lives. As the months went on the isolation increased along with the feeling of missing out…I missed out on family birthdays, my sister’s 16th and her formal, and most of my friends turning 21.These are important moments and missing them has stayed with me.
“Youth cancer is something I never thought about before the November 2023, it never crossed my mind. It is only once you are in the system you start to see how many lives are impacted. I am so happy to see so many people supporting Sony Foundation’s ‘You Can Centre’ here in Adelaide, it is so desperately needed for the 15- to 29-year-olds as we really don’t fit in on the ward, and it can be a lonely place to be. Having somewhere other than the hospital room to rest and interact with others in the same age group would have been great and would have helped with my hatred of being in hospital,” said Mr Slattery.
Sophie Ryan-McPhee, CEO, Sony Foundation, says despite the significant progress that has been made in cancer care for AYAs, more must be done.
“Adolescents and young adults with cancer face unique medical, emotional, and social challenges that require not only care, but spaces designed just for them.
“The Adelaide ‘You Can’ Youth Cancer Centre will transform youth cancer care in South Australia. It will be a dedicated space where young people can access world-class treatment, wrap-around allied health services, and social spaces to connect with peers, and recover.
“Every dollar raised at Adelaide4Ward 2025 goes directly towards building this Centre. More than a fundraiser, Adelaide4Ward is a commitment from our community that no young person receiving treatment in Adelaide will face cancer alone, and that they have the chance to not just survive, but thrive,” said Ms Ryan-McPhee.
Powered by corporate and media partners, Adelaide4Ward is one of South Australia’s most significant demonstrations of collaborative corporate philanthropy. Over 110 companies, including ACM, Amazon, ARN, JCDecaux, News Corp, Nine Entertainment, NOVA, oOh!media, Paramount, QMS, SCA, Scentre Group Brandspace, Seven Network and Val Morgan, united to back a shared vision: equitable cancer care for all young Australians.
“This is what real impact looks like, industries putting competition aside to solve a national issue. Fifteen years on, You Can is stronger than ever. But we’re not finished yet, we’re just getting started,” said Ms Ryan-McPhee.
Sony Foundation thanks our Adelaide4Ward 2025 Event Partners: Aperol, G.H. Mumm, Mazi, NPW Productions, Pirate Life, Raw Pearls, San Pellegrino, Seppeltsfield, SkyCity Adelaide, The Advertiser Foundation, Topbunk.
