CARLTON ruckman Cameron Wood didn’t realise until last year just how prevalent bowel cancer was in the community. That all changed when he put out a picture on social media with the #iknowsome1 hashtag. The response was an eye-opener.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After finding out how many people are impacted by the disease, the former Brisbane and Collingwood big man has signed on as an ambassador for the Jodi Lee Foundation and its message for people to get themselves checked out.
“My interest stems from last year when Carlton teamed up with the Jodi Lee Foundation for the Gold Coast game in round 20,” Wood said. “I shared a photo through social media with the #iknowsome1 campaign and I was pretty surprised with how many people contacted me through Facebook and Instagram with people they know.
“Personally, I don’t know anyone in my family who has had bowel cancer, but I was pretty shocked by how many people did. The opportunity came up not long ago to become an ambassador through Carlton and I put my hand up.”
Wood and his Carlton teammate Levi Casboult, and Jodi Lee Foundation founder Nick Lee, were at Mars Chocolate Australia’s plant in Ballarat on Thursday to encourage employees to take part in a corporate bowel screening pro-
gram. Employees were encouraged to use a home screening test.
The test can be done in a bathroom and involves collecting two separate samples from the toilet bowl using supplied equipment. There are simple instructions on how to collect each sample and the results are posted using a reply-paid envelope for diagnosis.
Mars participated in the Jodi Lee Foundation program as part of the company’s wellbeing program.
The Jodi Lee Foundation was begun by Mr Lee following the death of his wife Jodi from bowel cancer in January 2010.
Mr Lee said bowel cancer could be cured if it was detected early enough. Unfortunately, symptoms are not always obvious, which is why the screening test is important.
“We were living in Vietnam when Jodi was diagnosed,” Mr Lee said. “There were no symptoms really until she had some abdominal pain. She had surgery but it had spread to her liver. We returned to South Australia and began treatment, and we tried everything but it was discovered too late”.
gavin.mcgrath@fairfaxmedia.com.au
