Jilliby resident, Sean Clancy, is raising funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, a condition he was diagnosed with last year, by participating in Dry July,
Clancy said that he saw an ad for Dry July, and he thought he would give it a go.
“I’ve never fundraised before and when I saw it advertised I thought I’d have a crack at it,” he said.
“So far I’ve raised $21,500 and my target is $50,000.
“When I sat down to talk about how much I could raise, my partner, Olivera, said I could do better, so I doubled the amount to $50,0000.
“I set up the page on the website and I went through my contact list sending the link out, and after about 15 minutes, money was already coming in.
“I’m fundraising until the end of July, and I have a couple of non-believers who have promised to double their donation if I stay away from alcohol for the whole month, which has been pretty easy.
“It was a bit difficult for the first three days, but now I’m fine with not drinking,” Clancy said.
He is currently leading the fundraising board.
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) CEO, Professor Jeff Dunn AO, commended Clancy for joining thousands of everyday Aussies who have gone dry for July.
“This is a wonderful way for people to get healthy while they give back, enabling us to support men and their families in the local area impacted by prostate cancer.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in this region and is a major burden for local families, with nearly 17,000 Australian men diagnosed each year.
“By saying yes to Dry July, you are also helping us meet the rapidly increasing need for our nursing services so that men and their families don’t have to suffer in silence.
“We know that men are benefiting from seeing our nurses by coping better with their diagnosis and navigating the health system more capably, significantly improving their quality of life and survivorship outcomes.
“With your help, we can ensure that these men, and their families, do not need to navigate prostate cancer alone.
“So please, swap out your wine or beer for a water or tea, and donate what you’d spend on drinks to PCFA to help save lives.
“We can’t do it without you,” Professor Dunn said.
In April 2020, Clancy was diagnosed with prostate cancer following a biopsy and was given three choices, the first being to do nothing, the second was to go through chemotherapy and the third, getting the tumour removed through surgery.
In June 2020, Clancy had the tumour removed and has been cancer free since.
He said that the recovery was difficult, and he was glad that he had his partner Olivera to help him through it.
“The recovery period was about six months, and there were many things you had to consider in that period like dealing with bladder control and regaining your confidence.
“I’ve been so lucky to have my partner Olivera supporting me.
“The recovery was horrible, after the surgery there was a four month period that I had to wait before getting checked to see if the cancer was gone, or if it had spread around my body further.
“During this period, I was drinking a fair bit and I went into a depression.
“I had to learn about depression and change my definition of what it meant to be depressed and get help and it was terrifying.
“I got my results back in November and thankfully I am cancer free,” Clancy said.
Harry Mulholland