New prostate cancer charity calls to ‘protect our legends’

The children and grandchildren of a host of famous faces have become the driving force behind a new national prostate cancer charity.

The Silvagni family are getting behind the launch of a new charity called RULE Prostate Cancer. Picture: Jason Edwards

The children and grandchildren behind a host of famous faces are the driving force behind the launch of a new national prostate cancer charity aiming to “protect our legends”.

Dads, uncles, brothers, sons and grandfathers are typically the legends of the family, but many have a she’ll-be-right attitude when it comes to their own health.

But prostate cancer doesn’t discriminate – famous face or not. More than 18,100 Australian men will be diagnosed this year, making it the second most common cancer in men.

The merger of the EJ Whitten Foundation and The Australian Prostate Centre to create RULE Prostate Cancer, will see them take their united cause national.

It will also bolster their fundraising power – with an initial target of raising $1m – to propel their research into more accurate diagnosis and more effective treatments.

APC brainchild and chairman, Bill Guest said the first task of RULE Prostate Cancer was to take the awareness message to the loved ones of blokes aged over 50 (or over 40 for men with a family history of cancer), so these children and grandchildren can drive home the need for early detection.

“Men are hopeless at getting tested. The statistics of prostate cancer are horrific, but men don’t understand it,” Mr Guest said.

“Most men love their kids. We’re trying to educate men and we think the best way to do that is to now educate the family to encourage their father to go and get tested.

“It’s such a terrible disease. I’ve had it for 12 years, so I know what it’s like.”

RULE Prostate Cancer’s first appointment is Ted Whitten Jnr into the role of national liaison and promotions manager.

Whitten Jnr said he still clearly remembered the night, standing next to his dad EJ Whitten Senior on the banks of the Yarra River on their way home from a function, when he first knew something was wrong.

Jockey Craig Williams and his four kids. Picture: Rebecca Michael

“I said to him; ‘Are you OK? What’s wrong? This is the seventh time we’ve stopped for you to go to the loo on the way home’.

“He said,’ I’m busting to go but it’s just not happening and I’m in a lot of pain’

“I said; ‘How long has it been going on?’ He said two or three years. But he hadn’t done anything about it because he hadn’t had the time.

“The next day he went and had a check-up. Within 24 hours we found out he had aggressive, incurable prostate cancer.”

The EJ Whitten Foundation has raised more than $15 million in the past 26 years – largely for medical research. They will continue their “It’s Time to Test” health awareness program, which urges men to have an annual check-up with their GP and discuss the need for a prostate specific antigen (PSA) blood test.

“It was all about making sure for me, as an only child, other men knew about prostate cancer and they started to get annual check-ups and tests,” Whitten Jrn said.

“We lost out legend. My dad, gone at 62 when he should be in the prime of his life with his kids and his grandkids.

“He missed out on going to their 18, their 21, their weddings, seeing their children.

“It’s a silent killer.”

Whitten Jnr said the merger would create a “bigger and better organisation that has further reach”

“We want to get our message out much further, and reach more Australian men and save more lives,” he said.

The Australian Prostate Centre in North Melbourne has treated more than 20,000 men since opening its doors four years ago.

Their mandate is to provide a one-stop-shop of specialists that focus on the complete treatments needed for all physical and psychological elements of the disease.

APC chief Mark Harrison said the organisational merger would help them fulfil their ultimate goal of rolling out their model of care nationally.

It will also allow them to continue investing into medical research such finding new treatments for high-risk disease, and developing new tests that can differentiate between aggressive cancer from a benign cancer that does not need treatment, and will never cause a man problems in their lifetime.

“There are great survival rates if we catch it early, but we still struggle for those men where we catch it late,” Mr Harrison said.

“Most of my generation put their head in the sand. But I think the next generation are much more savvy about looking after their health.

“We hope we can give men longer and better quality lives, until the day there is a cure.”

HOW TO SUPPORT RULE PROSTATE CANCER

Help to protect Australia’s legend through the purchase of a $25 bucket hat. ruleprostatecancer.org.au

The new organisation also kicks off with a celebration of 25 years of the E.J. Whitten “Legends Game” on Channel 9 during the AFL grand final week.

The TV special will be hosted by Tony Jones and Billy Brownless, and will recap all the highlights with the stars that took the field.

SILVAGNI: ‘MY DAD WAS ONLY 55 WHEN HE DIED’

Jo Silvagni is sure this was supposed to be the fine time in her dad’s life.

Barrie Bailey, in is mid-70s, should have been spending the time enjoying the fruits of his labour after raising Jo and her two brothers Matt and Stew, and enjoying his grandchildren.

“A daughter’s love for her father is different to a partner love; it’s a protective love that you have with your dad. I really miss that,” she said.

Jo Silvagni and her dad, Barrie Bailey.

“I miss that he would have been a great grandfather. My boys know him, even though they never met him.

“He just would have loved the last 24 years.

“He was all about family, but he missed the best parts of seeing his kids get married and have their own children.”

Jo and Stephen had just got engaged in August 1995 when Barrie was diagnosed with prostate cancer. It was already stage four and was in his bones.

“Back then it wasn’t really spoken about. We didn’t know there was a problem. He certainly didn’t look sick,” she said.

“Unbeknown to me at the time, his prognosis was only three months but he lasted two years. “18 months of those two years was quality time. The last six months was pretty tough.”

Jo was seven months pregnant with Jack when her dad died.

The Silvagni family are getting behind the launch of RULE Prostate Cancer, keen to spread the message about the importance of early detection.

“Dad was 55 when he died. Now that I’m of the age, ticking the box of 50 and above, that’s quite frightening,” she said.

“I have two brothers, three sons, a husband – I’m surrounded by prostates.

“With education is power, they can tell their friends and tell their uncles and parents, just get the message out there to get yourself tested if you’re of the age.

“A father will do anything for their kids.

“Catch it early enough and you can live a normal life. That’s much better than the alternative.”

Tennis great Todd Woodbridge and his family, Tash, Beau, Todd, Zara and their dog, Millie. Picture: Rebecca Michael

WOODBRIDGE: WINNING HEALTH ADVICE

Tennis great Todd Woodbridge has made a career out of taking care of his body to get the most out of it.

Now, after turning 50, the father of two is tuning into to the advice given by his own late father Kevin and that of his two children as he looks for new ways to stay healthy.

“When my dad was getting elderly he said to me; ‘Make sure, from the day you turn 40, you continually get yourself tested’. That’s what he had done,” Woodbridge said.

“It just resonated with me because Dad didn’t give me a heck of a lot of advice. But that was one thing I clearly remember from him.

“Now my kids are at an age, 19 and 20, where they have strong opinions and they start to tell you what to do. They’re so aware of health and wellbeing, particularly at the moment.

“My daughter Zara is into diet, fitness, taking care of your body.

“Beau is a performer and you can’t perform unless you’re at your physical best.”

Woodbridge said he was driven to get a prostate cancer check-up as an insurance policy against being able to keep living the active life that he loved, and to be there for his family.

“It’s a very simple check-up,” he said. “If you’re one of the lucky ones and you get on top of it early, it has no issues. If you let it go, it can be too late.”

Steve Blake with his wife, Rosemary, and daughter, Bridgette. Picture: Mark Stewart

BLAKE: DON’T PUT IT OFF

In the four hours a day that Steve Blake is well enough to get out of bed, you’ll find him sitting in the sun out the back of his Dromana home with the dogs and his girls.

The 58-year-old is “at the pointy end” of a prostate cancer diagnosis and he has one message for Aussie blokes: get checked and don’t put it off.

Nine years ago the father of two had a general blood test as part of a medical exam for an insurance application.

His PSA reading came back a little high. “The GP told me to go and get it checked. And I didn’t do that for six months, as you do. When I got checked it was too late. It had already got out of the prostate,” he said.

“It was a shock.”

His specialists at The Australian Prostate Centre, led by Professor Tony Costello, are trying everything they can to extend Mr Blake’s life.

He has been through it all; a radical prostatectomy, different types of radiation, hormone treatment and chemotherapy.

“You’ve just got to keep doing them. They said, ‘We’re not going to cure you, but we’re going to keep you alive for as long as we can,” he said.

“We’re at the midst of the pointy end at the moment, the crux of it.

“It’s all about the family, not you, at this point.”