Benjamin Law

Our friend Jesse Cox had several passions in life. Telling good stories. The great outdoors. Healthy competition. Boldly combining Birkenstocks and socks. He also had a penchant for decking himself out in high-end camping gear – a style some of us would refer to as “high camp”.

At the end of 2017, Jesse suddenly died from a rare cancer – a soft-tissue cancer called alveolar soft part sarcoma, which had unexpectedly spread to his brain.

Losing a loved one to cancer – especially a rare cancer – is devastating. However, losing Jesse has been particularly hard: he was only 31. He had so much ahead of him too, having just won a Walkley – the nation’s most prestigious journalism prize – before starting a new job doing what he did best: telling people’s stories through sound and audio.

We are Jesse’s family and friends. All of us – his parents Louise and Mark, brother Jack, wife Que, two-year-old son Alfie, and his friends and colleagues – miss him terribly.

However, we are also banding together for a challenge that seems particularly suited to honour Jesse’s memory. Together, we will climb from Thredbo to the summit of Mount Kosciuszko to help Rare Cancers Australia in their mission to improve awareness, support and treatment of Australians with rare and less common cancers.

We might even do it combining socks and sandals.

And we’d love your help.