Axe cuts to cancer chase
Ex-league star says prostate testing at work will save lives
FORMER State of Origin hardman Trevor Gillmeister wants mobile testing stations to be placed at construction sites because too many men are dying from prostate cancer every day.
Gillmeister beat prostate cancer in 2019, but said more needed to be done to get “boofheads” checked early.
“I used to work in the construction industry and they play a big part in blokes not getting checks because they work six days a week and don’t have time,” he said.
“They need a portable testing station to go around construction sites so they can do the test at work.”
The 55-year-old’s cancer was discovered during a routine annual blood test and he had robotic surgery to remove it in late 2019.
Gillmeister earned his nickname, “The Axe”, for his punishing tackles in a long career for the Roosters, Broncos, Panthers, Crushers, Queensland and Australia. He has had coaching and training roles at NRL clubs such as the Titans since retiring in 1996.
“I’d been having a yearly test for a few years before that and the doctor noticed the levels were jumping around. It hit me like a tonne of bricks.”
The cancer does not run in his family but he said he knew from his work over the years with children’s hospitals young people could get the disease.
Modern surgical techniques meant doctors needed to cut three tiny holes to carry out the operation and he started to get back to boxing
and training with his mates within six weeks, he said.
Gillmeister said men needed to be encouraged to get tested in case it saved their lives.
“We’re not bright sometimes, us blokes,” he said.
“‘She’ll be right’ doesn’t cut it anymore. You’re a boofhead if you don’t get your blood checked. When you get the stuff early, you’re more than half a chance of beating it.”
Nine men die in Australia every day from prostate cancer and The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia aims to wipe out deaths by 2040 by funding new research.
The foundation has launched Australia’s first Giving Day for prostate cancer,
and will match all donations up to $250,000 for one day only, on Thursday, November 25. It’s asking people to become a Giving Day Hero by registering at pcfagivingday.org.au and making a donation to help fund lifesaving research.
More Australian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer than any other cancer, but the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia says prostate cancer research gets only half the funding of some other major cancers.
PCFA chief executive Professor Jeff Dunn says doubling research could help wipe out deaths from the disease within two decades, saving the lives of
more than 3000 Australian men every year.
“Our concern is that Australia’s existing guidelines do not reflect current evidence – they are five years old and based on outdated data,” Professor Dunn said.
“The cold fact is, under the current guidelines, many men are being given incorrect advice about their prostate cancer risks and screening options. We are tremendously worried for the many hundreds of thousands of Australian men (who) may be completely unaware that their family history of prostate cancer places them at double or five times the risk of a diagnosis.”