US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy's drive for cancer
From Bunnings sausage sizzles to surfing with Mick Fanning, US Ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, hasn't shied away from a challenge during her posting here.
And now, the Ambassador is taking things to another level, when she gets behind the wheel to join next week's impolitely named Shitbox Rally.
It's a gruelling trek through the outback from Adelaide to Perth - all done in a car that's likely to break down - to raise money for cancer research prevention and treatment.
The rules of the charity rally mean the car the Ambassador drives must be worth less than $1500.
US Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy. (Nine)The Ambassador's is a 2004 Ford Falcon shitbox named "Moonshot".
"I've been so inspired by the people that I've met and across Australia working in the field of cancer research and treatment," Kennedy told 60 Minutes.
"The rally is obviously, kind of a way for people to come together and recommit, raise funds, support the research."
The fight for a cure for cancer is a cause close to Kennedy's heart.
Caroline Kennedy will drive a 2004 Ford Falcon in the Shitbox Rally. (Nine)The only surviving child of former US President John F Kennedy and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, she has not been immune from the terrible blight of cancer.
Her mother died of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 1994 and her uncle, Ted Kennedy, succumbed to aggressive brain cancer in 2009.
"I'm sure that were they diagnosed today, maybe things would have evolved differently," Kennedy said.
"I feel like it was one of the life-changing experiences for me as well. And of course I miss them every day, but I try to go forward with them in mind and they're always with me."
The Ambassador's car is named after her father's famous and inspiring vision in 1962 to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
JFK committed billions of dollars to that goal, naming the initiative Moonshot.
Decades on, and borrowing from JFK, US President Joe Biden launched his own ambitious Moonshot movement, aiming to find a cure for cancer in honour of his son Beau who died of a brain tumour.
The goal of the Cancer Moonshot Initiative is to cut cancer death rates by at least 50 per cent in the next 25 years.
"We've already made so much progress and I've met people who are alive today who never would have survived this long in the past," Ambassador Kennedy explains.
"This is a really exciting time and we're going to start to see the benefits of all these breakthroughs."
The Shitbox Rally runs from Adelaide to Perth, raising money for cancer research. (Nine)The extraordinary progress in the hunt for a cure for cancer will be top of mind as the Ambassador tackles the long stretches of highway across the desert.
"The air conditioning works … the radio doesn't work but that's why we have our playlist," she reassures us, of her car.
So, even if "Moonshot" breaks down, there'll be a good soundtrack for a good cause.
Watch the full episode of 60 Minutes on 9Now.
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