By Casey Neill
Greater Dandenong Rotarians made a $100,000 donation to prostate cancer research.
The Dandenong South East and Dandenong Rotary clubs are meeting as one while an official merger is in the works.
At their dinner at Dandenong Club on Tuesday 21 March, they presented a cheque for $100,000 to The Alfred’s radiation oncology director, Associate Professor Jeremy Millar.
They raised the cash through Rotarian Neil Fullard’s House of Hope project.
With help from dozens of volunteers and donations, he built a home in Mt Martha and sold it to aid a cause close to his heart.
“He actively saved my life many, many years ago,” Mr Fullard said of Asst Prof Millar.
“He’s kept me going for 16 years.
“He’s saved a lot of other people’s lives, particularly men, over those years.”
Asst Prof Millar is also on the board of Cancer Council Victoria and Cancer Council Australia and involved in a research program at Monash University.
“I’m lost for words about it,” he said.
“Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in Australia.
“It’s the third most common cause of cancer death in men.
“More men die from prostate cancer than women die from breast cancer.”
He said surgery was most common treatment, and radiotherapy was used in 25 per cent of cases.
He specialises in brachytherapy, which involves putting a radioactive source inside a cancer.
“It can completely obliterate the cancer without giving side effects,” he said.
“We cure at least 85 per cent of the men that we treat.”
Asst Prof Millar said improving side effects was their aim, and the cash would help with trials to pinpoint treatment using an ultrasound machine.
Mr Fullard also donated $10,000 to Rotarian Margaret Gunton for breast cancer research and treatment equipment.
