A Lot To Chew Over At Brekkie

May 4, 2015

The guests at Friday’s Mayoral Charity Breakfast had a lot to take in … some exciting news, some troubling news and some delicious food.

The breakfast – the official launch of the 2015 South Burnett Relay For Life fundraising campaign – was held at the recently re-opened Cassis restaurant at Booie (the former Belltower).

The exciting news included:

• The names of the three captains who will be the guests at this year’s Relay For Life Captain’s Dinner in Kingaroy on July 25: rugby league legend Darren Lockyer, tennis great Evonne Goolagong Cawley and paralympian world champion Brendan Burkett

• The naming of the 2015 “Face Of Relay” for the South Burnett: Wakka Wakka elder, cancer survivor and popular local teacher Eric Law

• The release of a new “Relay For Life” purple Test cricket ball

• The naming of a Cancer Council research grant after South Burnett Relay For Life patron Carl Rackemann and the Sportsman’s Dinner Committee

• If this year’s Relay For Life in the South Burnett can raise $150,000, it will take the total amount of money raised in the last 10 years past $1 million.

The troubling news included:

• Cancer statistics presented by guest speaker Professor Jeff Dunn (see below)

• The news that the South Burnett Private Hospital may close at the end of June (see separate report)

* * *

Guest speaker was Cancer Council of Queensland CEO Professor Jeff Dunn, AO.

The leading oncologist said every year 25,000 Queenslanders would be diagnosed with cancer and 8300 would die.

Over the past five years about 7000 people in the local region had been diagnosed with cancer and more than 640 had died.

However, there were also 200,000 people alive who at one time or another had cancer.

“Tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable disease in the community,” Prof Dunn said.

However, he said things were getting better … during the 1950s about 70 per cent of the population smoked; it was now about 14 per cent.

And as a result of the “Slip, Slop, Slap” campaign, the number of Queenslanders under 40 diagnosed with melanoma was dropping; at the same time, the number of Queenslanders over 40 with the disease was increasing.

And some good news … the survival rate for women with breast cancer was improving.

“The average survival rate for all cancers in the late 1980s was about 48 per cent; today in Queensland it is about 70 per cent because of more early detections and better treatments,” Prof Dunn said.

However, if the community took full advantage of the various screenings available, mortality could be reduced even more.

Cancer researchers have a 25 x 25 target, ie. a 25 per cent reduction in all cancers by 2025 – but to achieve this, they need fundraising from the community.

• Related article: May Day Call To Save Hospital

  Council