Pirate Day is an annual dress up day during brain cancer awareness month each May.
It's time to dust off your swash-buckling best and gather as much treasure as you can for a great cause.
Since 2014, over $700,000 has been raised by pirates for childhood brain cancer research. Join our generous pirates across the country and register your crew today!
Nathan Colgan founded Pirate Day following his son Conor’s diagnosis with brain cancer.
After being told that research was the only way to change the lives of kids with brain cancer, Nathan convinced Conor’s primary school to dress up like pirates for the first Pirate Day in 2014, inspired by Conor’s need to wear an eye patch because of his surgery and treatments.
Brain cancer is one of the hardest and most aggressive cancers to treat. Approximately 120 Australian children and adolescents are diagnosed with brain cancer each year.
The brain is hard to penetrate with chemotherapy and radiation, and quite often this leads to permanent side effects, such as deafness, cognitive impairment, growth issues and secondary cancers.
The funds raised on Pirate Day, coinciding with Brain Cancer Awareness Month, will give childhood brain cancer researchers the resources they need to find less harmful, more effective treatments.
To find out more, visit our Pirate Day website www.pirateday.com.au
Funds raised on Pirate Day directly benefit The Kids’ Cancer Project’s Col Reynolds Fellows, a cohort of Australia’s best and brightest scientists.
Dr Ryan Cross, a Melbourne-based childhood brain cancer researcher, is one of these very scientists. Ryan is hoping to turn DIPG, arguably the most aggressive cancer, into a manageable condition via providing effective, safe and personalised treatments to kids with the disease.
Get to know Dr Cross' research
“I think Pirate Day is a lemonade from lemons situation. We’re taking something which is quite common – the physical impediments of brain cancers – and looking to raise awareness,” Ryan says.
“Thank you so much to everyone involved with Pirate Day for what you do and the security that it’s provided me to be able to do further research into this devastating disease.”
- Dr Ryan Cross
Don your swashbuckling best this May and collect treasure for childhood brain cancer research.
Register for Pirate Day
You can find out more information about raising funds by hosting a pirate day on the Pirate Day website.
This year’s Pirate Day will be supporting Dr Ryan Cross in his important research into the use of T-cells to fight Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), the most rare and aggressive brain cancer found amongst children.
Everyone! Schools, Early Learning Centres, Businesses and Community Groups often host Pirate Days as do small groups of friends. Head to our website to register and once you sign up, there are plenty of resources to download to help you have a swashbuckling day!
The Kids' Cancer Project is setting sail on our Pirate Day on Friday 16 May 2025. But you can jump aboard yours any time in May that suits your crew. May is Brain Cancer Awareness Month.
