REDLAND mayor Karen Williams is urging locals to take part in Rotary’s annual drive to reduce lives lost due to bowel cancer.
Co-ordinated by Rotarians from the local Rotary District 9630, the 2018 Rotary Bowelscan Queensland campaign launched at Princess Alexandra Hospital with gastroenterology and hepatology department director Professor Gerald Holtmann as guest speaker.
Bowel cancer is the second biggest cancer killer in Australia, with about 80 Australians dying from the disease every week.
Bowel cancer can affect anyone and can develop without obvious symptoms for some time, increasing the importance of people of all ages being aware of good bowel health.
If detected early bowel cancer is 90 per cent curable, and local Rotarians are encouraging early detection through testing.
Throughout May and June, Rotary’s Bowelscan campaign will offer subsidised test kits.
The test is completed in privacy and analysed for free by Sullivan Nicolaides Pathology.
The kits sell for $15 from participating pharmacies or $17.50 online, and analysis is free.
Cr Williams commended the local Rotarians for their dedicated efforts in helping to raise awareness of the disease and the importance of being tested.
“Rotary is renowned for helping communities across the world, and with that drive and experience focused on encouraging people to be tested for possible bowel cancer these Rotarians are certainly making a difference,” she said.
“Last year, Rotarians sold about 65,000 Bowelscan test kits across Australia, saving the lives of more than 4300 people – almost 850 of them from Queensland.
“I’m urging locals to take part in the campaign by buying, using and submitting a test form analysis, and encouraging others to do the same.
“This is a simple, cost-effective test available to everyone, and it may save your life or that of a loved one.”
Cr Williams also encouraged Redlanders to follow Bowelscan Queensland on social media and to like, share and retweet campaign posts to help spread the word.
For more information about the Rotary Bowelscan campaign, including details of where kits can be purchased, visit bowelscanqueensland.org.au.