Jim, Tony at Westmead, with Alan and Paul at PCFA Men's Health Week

[Admin]

As part of Men's Health Week, the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) will be announcing a new initiative for men with prostate cancer next Tuesday, 16 June 2015. (More on that after the launch).

 

PCFA is bringing Committee members Jim Marshall, Paul Hobson, Alan Barlee and Tony Maxwell to the press briefing in Sydney to help the press focus on actual men with advanced prostate cancer.

 

Jim Marshall and Tony Maxwell will be taking the opportunity to visit a meeting of the Westmead Prostate Cancer Support Group on Monday 15 June 2015 at 6:30 pm. Jim is not the guest speaker - just introducing himself and the Advanced Prostate Cancer Support Group, and Tony is a regular Westmead visitor.

 

Member Ron Wilson will be meeting up with Jim before the meeting for a cafe dinner. Any Sydney members who would like to join us, please just reply to this email.

 

Jim hopes to take up an invitation visit the Garvan Research Institute on Tuesday or Wednesday morning. Thanks go to member George Curr from Dubbo for arranging this.

[Paul Edwards]

What would it take to stop men dying of prostate cancer within the next 10 years? 

 

This was the challenge outlined at the PCFA’s media briefing during Men’s Health Week.

 

Associate Professor Anthony Lowe, CEO of Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, spoke:

 

"Solving the tragedy of low survival rates for men with advanced prostate cancer is a huge priority for the prostate cancer community.  

 

Australia has the highest incidence of prostate cancer in the world. 

 

In Australia prostate cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer (19,993 new cases in 2011) and more than 3000 men die from prostate cancer every year.

 

We need to focus resources on making sure we are treating the advanced form of the disease as effectively as possible. It is literally a matter of life and death.

 

It needs a concerted international effort - similar to the HIV/ AIDS program from decades ago. ”

 

 

Professor Paul De Souza, Foundation Professor of Medical Oncology at University of Western Sydney and Ingham Institute, Liverpool Hospital spoke about the exciting new therapies which are emerging for the future.

 

"Keeping men alive is important but so is quality of life.

 

It is crucial that we continue the discussion into how we can do much better."

 

 

The idea of having a number of “real” patients with advanced cancer worked well.  We all had long chats with the various journalists who asked some very perceptive questions.  Apparently the journalists found it useful to talk to us and the PCFA received very positive feedback.

 

 

The event finished about 2.30.  I was very impressed with one journalist who by 3pm had already published an online article about increasing the poor survival rates of men with advanced prostate cancer.