Oasis Magazine - Cairns & Tropical North Queensland Issue 29 - Apr | May 2019 | Page 21

THE PERSONALITIES
Media representatives in town have
come on board to support the
campaign and are willing to
undergo colonoscopies, if they
haven’t already, to promote
awareness and fundraising.
member’s bowel cancer diagnosis.
But prompted by the campaign,
he’s dedicated to “taking one for the
team” and hopefully nothing is
found.
Andy Reeves has no close family
connection to bowel cancer, but as
a passionate supporter of the
Foundation, is willing to do
whatever it takes to help the
campaign reach its fruition.
ABC Far North’s Kier Shorey, Star
102.7’s Dave Warner, 4CA’s Murray
Jones and John Mackenzie and the
Cairns Post general manager Andy
Reeves have stepped forward to
help drive public awareness of the THE EQUIPMENT
Balloon enteroscope (two required
campaign.
at a cost of $60,000 each). This
Kier Shorey “ignored” pleas from technique involves the use of a
his family to have an endoscopy. balloon at the end of a special
“Like most men, I thought I was enteroscope camcera and an
bullet proof for eight years they overtube, which is a tube that fits
nagged me to do something. Dad over the endoscope. It allows most
had had polyps removed so that’s of the small intestine to be viewed,
why everyone was at me.” But it which is impossible with a normal
was the diagnosis of another close endoscope. Diagnoses patients
relative with a large tumour in the with small bowel bleeding spots,
descending colon, that prompted ulcers, polyps or tumours. (At time
him to take action. That family of going to press, $3480 had been
member has been treated and is raised).
now well, but it prompted Kier, now
aged 47, to book in. And just as well Linnear Eus Scope. (Cost $99,640).
he did, because Cairns Hospital This is an endoscope with an
director of medicine discovered a ultrasound probe on the end, in
25mm polyp when he performed a addition to the usual camera. It
gives very clear images of internal
colonoscopy.
organs and allows biopsies to be
John Mackenzie has been through taken more accurately as well as
the process of having colonosco- guiding internal drainage of fluid
pies for some years and is eager to collections. Diagnoses patients
see the campaign reach fruition.
with tumours of the pancreas, bile
ducts, oesophagus and stomach.
Murray Jones is now aged
(At time of going to press, $7592
“50-and-a-half” and had put his
had been raised).
bowel screening kit in the bottom Radial Eus Scope (Cost $90,500).
drawer. Twice. However, he’s now This type of imaging provides a 360
dedicated to the campaign and has degree, cross-sectional view of the
obtained his referral for his GI tract and is primarily used for
colonoscopy.
screening and staging tumours.
Dave Warner has been “gently Diagnoses patients with tumours of
oesophagus,
stomach,
reminded” by family members to the
have a colonoscopy, due to a family pancreas, etc. (At time of going to
press, $1520 had been raised).
Manometry pH studies (cost
$122,000). This measures the
function of the muscles and nerves
of the food pipe (gullet or
oesophagus). A thing tube with
sensors is passed through the nose
down the oesophagus into the
stomach. In pH studies, a catheter
is passed through the nose and left
in the lower oesophagus for 24
hours or a capsule is tacked on to
the lower oesophagus). (This item
has been fully funded!)
VITAL STATS
• Demand for endoscopy services
in FNQ is increasing by at least
10pc a year
• More than 25 endoscopy proce-
dures are performed at Cairns
Hospital each day.
• About 8200 endoscopic cases
were dealt with throughout the
Cairns and Hinterland Hospital and
Health Service in 2017-2018
(CHHHS annual report)
• Demand is expected to increase
to 8400 in the current financial year,
with an extra 1000 cases each year
after that (CHHHS annual report)
• About one in 23 people will be
diagnosed with bowel cancer in
their lifetime
• Bowel cancer is the second-most
diagnosed cancer in FNQ for both
men and women (after prostate and
breast cancer)*
• 167 bowel cancer diagnoses in
FNQ each year, 57 die each
year* (Source: Cancer Council
Queensland 2007-2011)
Donate here: www.fnqhf.org.au/en-
doscopy