The 2018 Rotary Bowelscan Queensland campaign is under way and Redland City Mayor Karen Williams is urging locals to participate and help save lives.
Coordinated by Rotarians from the local Rotary District 9630, the campaign launched at Princess Alexandra Hospital last week, with PAH Director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology Professor Gerald Holtmann MD PhD MBA as guest speaker.
The annual drive aims to reduce the number of lives lost to bowel cancer.
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The disease 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, however, 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 for 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.
Visit Rotary Bowelscan for more information about the campaign, including details of where kits can be purchased.
