Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Wednesday I held an Ovarian Cancer Morning Teal at Gwandalan Bowling Club. The morning tea was to raise awareness of the ovarian cancer, making those who attended aware of the symptoms—abdominal pain or pelvic pain, increased abdominal size, persistent abdominal bloating, the need to urinate often or quickly, and difficulty eating, or feeling full quickly, along with other symptoms such as change of bowel habits and unexplained weight gain or loss.

This was an outstanding morning tea. We had three wonderful speakers. Firstly, there was Carolyn Bear, who I have spoken about many times in this House and whose daughter succumbed to ovarian cancer. For the first time she stood and told her story. Carolyn is the person who makes those beautiful bracelets that I have been selling in this parliament. We also had Annette Luchich stand up and speak. She told her story of being diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer, and she is living with that of the moment. Thirdly, there was Rae Corbett, whose daughter was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer, and she is living with that at the moment. She has now been clear of ovarian cancer for five years.

The thing that was so phenomenal about this Morning Teal is that we had about 60 or 70 women come along and we raised $2,500 on the day. Last year the Gwandalan Bowling Club sponsored prostate cancer as its fundraising initiative, so all last year they raised funds for prostate cancer. This year they have agreed to raise funds for the whole year for ovarian cancer. I want put on the record my strong thanks to Gwandalan Bowling Club, which is where we held the morning tea. While we were at the Gwandalan Bowling Club bingo was taking place downstairs and they sent $200 up to the morning tea, along with a $1,000 cheque from their Hundreds Club. The women's bowling club also pledged $400.

Ovarian cancer is one of those cancers that people do not know they have until quite often it is too late. It is really important that we not only raise the issues and make people aware of the symptoms, but that money is raised for funds for further research. That is something the women at Gwandalan Bowling club—and the men too—achieved on that morning.