Fellas to munch lunch for a great cause

AN event to bring guys from the region together in support of prostate cancer care and research will be held in Bendigo in late November.

Neil Macdonald has been helping to run the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia’s Biggest Bloke’s Lunch in Bendigo since it started over 10 years ago and he said he’s passionate about spreading awareness of the disease.

“The event is a great afternoon of fun, asking a mate are they okay, having a beer, raising some money for awareness, for research,” he said.

“At the moment we’re losing 10 men every day to prostate cancer, that’s as a nation.”

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, AIHW, in 2020, 3568 men in Australia died of the cancer.

In 2022, the AIHW found prostate cancer to be the most prevalent type of cancer in men, with an estimated more than 24,000 new cases that year.

“You’ve got more chance of getting prostate cancer in the Loddon Mallee region than you have anywhere else in Australia,” said Mr Macdonald.

“We don’t know why that is, we’d love to know, then we could do something about it.”

There will be several auctions and a raffle, and the event is non-profit.

Mr Macdonald has firsthand experience with the disease and was diagnosed and treated in 2009.

“I had no symptoms whatsoever. It was only that I had a regular annual health check and the doctor picked it up in a blood test, and it went from there,” he said.

He also said it is important men keep a record of their health and get regular tests at the doctor.

“My suggestion is that they have an annual blood test, but also to have your cholesterol, and your sugar and your thyroid, all that done,” said Mr Macdonald.

“It’s just one needle, one vial of blood, and they can do so much.

“We’re discovering now that prostate cancer is being diagnosed in men younger and younger.

“Once upon a time it was thought of as an old man’s disease, but now guys are being diagnosed with prostate cancer in their 30s.”

In 2022, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimated one in six males would be diagnosed with prostate cancer by age 85.

Bendigo’s Biggest Bloke’s Lunch will be at All Season Resort on 17 November.