Enright joins battle
Cat greats fight cancer
WHEN Ian Nankervis lost his brother John to pancreatic cancer nearly two years ago he knew he had to do something.
Raising awareness — such as the fact that pancreatic cancer makes up 2.4 per cent of all new cancer cases diagnosed in 2017 — was No. 1 on the former Geelong captain’s list, but raising money to go into research to find a cure was also high among his priorities.
It has taken some time but this week marks the end of a six-week campaign involving Ian, his brother and former Cat Bruce, and their sister Heather, embarking on a mission that has seen them raise $15,000 for Pancare and the Epworth Hospital.
Nankervis said there was still plenty of work to be done, adding they were hoping to get to $40,000 by the end of this week in the process of further educating people about the disease.
“The horrible thing is it is a disease that is not spoken of as often as breast cancer, prostate cancer and lung cancer, and unfortunately the survival rate of pancreatic cancer is something like 2 per cent,” Ian Nankervis said.
“The problem is there is no test for it other than biopsies and even then it doesn’t show up sometimes.
“So this thing could be dormant in your pancreas for quite a while and then suddenly start to grow tumours.
“If you have a tumour over 2cm they basically can’t do much for you.
“When John was diagnosed, nine months later he’d passed away. He fought pretty hard to try to survive but it got on top of him in the end and that is the story with a lot of people.
“You could have jaundice or feel very tired, you could have weight loss, and they are signs that you might have cancer of the pancreas.”
To help their fundraising efforts there will be a dinner at the Lord of the Isles Tavern in Newtown tomorrow night featuring the Nankervis brothers, Corey Enright, Ian Cover and specialist and surgeon Mr Saleh Abbas.
As well as that the Geelong Football Club is auctioning two items on its website for fans to sit with Ian and Bruce at this week’s president’s lunch (including a three-course meal), and to stand guard as the Cats run out on to Simonds Stadium ahead of the clash with Richmond.
Thursday will mark two years since John died.