Farmer Wants a Wife contestant Lance Jones gets treatment at Rockhampton GenesisCare cancer unit

Former Farmer Wants a Wife contestant Lance Jones has revealed his cancer fight and how a Rockhampton care unit helped him overcome it.

When former Farmer Wants a Wife star and Central Queensland farmer Lance Jones was diagnosed with skin cancer, it was a ‘big wakeup call’.

The Gracemere farmer, who appeared on the 2016 series of the reality television show, was diagnosed with a basal cell carcinoma (BCC) on his face earlier this year and has been undergoing treatment in Rockhampton.

His time on the show was met with controversy, as he announced a change of heart at the last minute.

He was the oldest contestant of the series that year and had chosen a 51-year-old Brisbane woman, but just before the final ceremony, he changed his mind.

Critics slammed Mr Jones for breaking the woman’s heart.

Mr Jones asked the woman how she felt about it and in response to her heartfelt answer, he said he didn’t feel they had the “full connection”.

At the time it was described as the most shocking Farmer Wants a Wife finale in the program’s history.

A true farmer, Mr Jones was at the GenesisCare cancer unit at the Rockhampton Base Hospital on Wednesday in his work shirt, which was covered in dirt, as well as shorts, work boots and a cowboy hat.

Earlier this year he underwent surgery at the unit to remove the BCC and then had 20 days of radiation treatment.

Having the treatment done locally meant he didn’t have to leave home or stop work.

“I didn’t realise I could get treatment in Rocky, I thought for sure I had to go to Brisbane,” Mr Jones said.

“The whole procedure, being diagnosed, the operation, radiation.. it all happened within two months.”

Mr Jones has a property with livestock that would need looking after if he had to go away.

“For me to go to Brisbane would be a big thing, for a bush guy… but for anybody…you have to leave your home, pay accommodation,” he said.

“For it be in your backyard…. imagine having a property out at Emerald or Duaringa or somewhere like that… having to leave home, you’d have to get somebody in to run the place, run the water and things like that.

“To have it here, it was just so convenient and saved me thousands of dollars in travel and accommodation… and I was able to continue to work.

“I am in here for 30-35 minutes, then I am back on job site in an hour and a half.”

He praised all of the staff at the Rockhampton centre.

“The staff here are magnificent and the facilities are second to none,” he said.

He said the cancer scare and experience had given him a “big wake up call” and he is now always telling his family and friends to get checked.

“I’m one of the lucky ones, I have only had a BCC,” he said.

“Don’t become complacent, get out there, get yourself checked and these guys will look after you.

“I’m a simple man who just goes from home to work and you just think this is life… and when you get something like this and you have to go and get treatment, it really does make you think.

“Life can be short if you let it be.”

Cancer treatment is not something many people know much about until they, or a loved one, needs it.

Most people might not know that you can get radiation treatment without having to travel to Brisbane.

The GenesisCare cancer centre has just celebrated five years of delivering world-class cancer care in Central Queensland.

The unit opened in 2016 in partnership with Central Queensland Hospital and Health Service and offers radiation and medical oncology and pathology.

Before the centre opened, cancer patients had to travel to Brisbane, adding an emotional and financial toll on top of their diagnosis.

In the first year of operation, the centre did 300 treatments and now does up to 600 treatments a year and the team has grown to 25 staff.

“We do see a lot of patients here and we cover a lot of regions, we will have patients from Biloela, Emerald, Gladstone, Yeppoon,” centre leader Cindy Versace said.

“Five years ago we were just getting started and finding our feet... now we are super established, we have all the latest technology”

It is well known if patients don’t have close access to health care, they are less likely to seek treatment.

“Now that we have been here five years, we have noticed an improvement, people aren’t leaving their cancer until the last minute, they are seeking help and treatment,” Ms Versace said.

Radiation oncologist and medical director Dr Tuan Ha said having access to radiation therapy had shown to improve survival outcomes.

“Around 30 per cent of patients who don’t have close access to radiation therapy won’t seek out treatment,” he said.

“For every 100km you have to travel, your overall survival from cancer decreases.

“It’s great to have this service locally so patients can get their treatment closer to home.”

Since opening, the team has introduced a highly precise treatment, stereotactic radiation therapy, for patients with bone, spine and lung cancers.

The techniques and technology drastically reduces the number of visits and treatments required.

“The highly targeted and precise stereotactic treatment option targets tumours in fewer high-dose treatments than traditional therapy, preserving healthy tissue and reducing the number of visits and treatments required,” Dr Ha said.

“Queensland is considered the skin capital of the world and we see a huge burden of disease locally here at our Rockhampton centre, as well as our other regional centres across the state,” said Dr Ha.

Looking after patients in the Rockhampton centre every day is radiation therapist Sinead Jacobson.

Sinead Jacobson grew up in rural towns, spending most of her childhood on the Fraser Coast, which influenced her understanding of superior medical care in regional towns.

“If we expect people to be able to travel to metropolitan centres…I have had patients tell me in the past that they simply couldn’t or wouldn’t go,” she said.

“You need to think of the patient as a holistic person, they have families and jobs and we need to be respective of that fact when we are addressing their care.”

In Ms Jacobson’s role, she moves between simulation, planning and treatment but her favourite aspect is the patient interaction.

Working in cancer care means Ms Jacobson is involved with patients and their loved ones in what is generally one of the hardest times of their lives – but it’s not as emotional as she thought it would be.

“I was expecting to work in cancer care as being something where people are quite devastated all of the time,” she said.

“People come in here and they want to fight, they want a chance, I think that is really humbling, it’s really motivating in my role because I know I can be a part of that journey.

“My job when coming to work is helping those people fight.

“It’s so motivating, inspiring to be involved.”