15 February 2017
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the Hon Warren Entsch MP, Member for Leichhardt and the Hon Jason Clare MP, Member for Blaxland, yesterday hosted a Parliamentary Friends of Prostate Cancer Awareness lunch at Parliament House in Canberra. The special lunch event was held to highlight the importance of access to a specialist nurse to men and their families who have recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer and the issues faced by men with advanced prostate cancer, including the importance of affordable access to the new treatments that have become available over the past two to three years.
Prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian men with 20,000 new cases each year. Survival rates have improved over the last decade through advances in detection and treatment and there are now 200,000 Australian men living with prostate cancer. However, many of these men are not living well. They are living with issues like urinary incontinence, sexual dysfunction, bowel problems and depression. Sadly, historically, there has been under-investment in men’s health relative to other areas.
Speakers included Dr Carmel Pezaro, Senior Medical Oncologist at Eastern Health and Monash University, Sally Sara, Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurse at the Repatriation General Hospital in Adelaide and Jim Marshall, Convenor of the Australian Advanced Prostate Cancer Support Group.
Afterwards, Jim Hughes AM, National Chairman of Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia presented Jim Marshall with a Max Gardner Award for his outstanding and significant contribution to reducing the impact of prostate cancer on the Australian community.
Click here to view all the photos from the event.
