TATE’S ADVICE A LIFE SAVER

ALMOST 17,000 Australians will be diagnosed with bowel cancer this year. The fact Tom Tate is one of them may just save someone’s life.

The Mayor’s selfless decision to step into the public spotlight at a time when he would likely rather retreat from the world is to be applauded.

One can only imagine how finding out he has bowel cancer has rattled his family and our thoughts are with him, wife Ruth and their loved ones as he prepares for urgent surgery.

That said, our thoughts are also with the thousands of people who will read our story today and take heed of his wise words to treat their own health as a priority.

In many ways, the Mayor is symbolic of a nation that too often lives by the mantra “no news is good news”.

At 58, he considered himself “invincible”.

Despite relentless messaging about the need for regular health checks, he let year after year pass without getting one.

In his own words: “Most guys will spend more time doing a check-up on their cars than on themselves”.

That changed for Mr Tate when his seemingly healthy wife suffered a near-fatal heart attack in Singapore four months ago.

Having used CPR to save Ruth’s life and seen her placed in an induced coma for three days, the passionate Gold Coaster returned home and booked in for the checks and blood tests he should have had years ago.

That led to the discovery of polyps in his colon and last month’s press conference where he warned everyone over the age of 50 to “get checked out”.

“If I had put this off for another 12 months, I was told it would have been bowel cancer,” he said.

Those words now have an eerie ring about them.

As opposed to “dodging a bullet”, Mr Tate’s near-miss has turned into a very real medical drama that is sure to inflict a substantial physical and emotional toll.

We wish him well and thank him for doing what so many health awareness campaigns can’t – inspire our city, and especially its men, to focus on their colons as much as their cars.