Blokes dig deep for men’s health

By Bransen Gibson

Oct 9, 2022

Sell-out: There wasn’t a spare seat in the house as hundreds of men from across the region came together to raise funds for Echuca Regional Health. Photo: Steve Huntley

Hundreds of men have come together for a great cause, raising money for men’s health as part of the Horizon Committee’s Echuca-Moama Biggest Blokes’ Lunch.

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More than 300 people attended the sold out function at Echuca Racecourse on Friday for the 10th edition of the event, uniting to help close in on a tremendous milestone.

Money raised at the event funds the role of a prostate cancer specialist nurse at Echuca Regional Health (ERH), with last week’s function expected to lift the total funds raised during the past decade above $500,000.

Serena Morley is the prostate cancer specialist nurse based at ERH and she said the fundraising efforts had been phenomenal.

“The generosity of our community is incredible," Ms Morley said.

Guests of honour: Prostate cancer specialist nurses (from left) Gay Corbett (Ballarat Health), Nicole Lewis (Goulburn Valley Health), Serena Morley (Echuca Regional Health) and Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia nursing programs manager Russell Briggs at the Echuca-Moama Biggest Blokes’ Lunch. Photo: Steve Huntley

“There are 102 prostate cancer nurses in Australia and only five are funded by the community, and Echuca is one of them.

“We are extremely grateful and cannot thank men in this community enough, especially the Horizon Committee. They put in a huge amount of work to get an event like this up and going.

“We are just so privileged and fortunate to be able to be the recipients of funds.”

There were plenty of laughs and good times being had throughout the day, which featured speeches from comedian Tom ‘The Suburban Footballer’ Siegert, as well as sporting legends in cricketer and footballer Simon O'Donnell and footballer David Schwarz.

Lunch for a cause: Troy Murphy (left), Simon O’Donnell and Ray Murphy at the Biggest Blokes’ Lunch last week. Photo: Steve Huntley

But the main focus was firmly on men’s health, with Ms Morley speaking to the room about prostate cancer — a disease she said was the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia and claimed the lives of more than 3000 men each year.

“Today gives myself, as the prostate cancer nurse, a chance to inform people from the community on the signs and symptoms and things they can be doing to look after their health,” Ms Morley said.

“A key thing to take from today is for men to act if they notice a change. They know their body better than anybody else.

“We know a lot of men don’t present to their GP, and we know that early diagnosis in any cancer is the key to a very good outcome.”

Some of the symptoms of prostate cancer are feeling the frequent or sudden need to urinate, difficulty or discomfort urinating, blood in urine or semen and pain in the lower back, upper thighs or hips.

State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh was at the event and praised the community’s fundraising efforts.

“Country communities are so good at self-help, especially the Horizon Committee, who have persevered and persevered and raised so much money,” Mr Walsh said.

“We all know somebody personally who has been affected and this is a way for the community to help itself by raising money for the hospital.

“After today, to have half-a-million dollars raised is a fantastic result.”