Carrie Bickmore was brought to tears during an interview on The Project last night revisiting brain cancer, an issue very close to the TV presenter who lost her husband to the disease in 2010.
The gold Logie nominee was passionate and emotional discussing brain cancer awareness week with renowned surgeon and brain cancer research pioneer Dr Charlie Teo.
“I lost my husband to brain cancer and I have to say, not only would a cure be wonderful, but a lot of the time when we were sitting in those waiting rooms we would remark at how young the people receiving treatment were,” she said.
“This really is a cancer that is hitting our younger population.”
According to the Cancer Council, brain cancer is the leading course of death in young people and accounts for more than one third of cancer deaths in children.
Dr Teo said more research needs to be done on the often forgotten disease that kills more women than breast cancer under the age of 39 and more men under 44 than any other cancer.
“Because we’ve done such poor research and so little research in brain cancer we have very few things to offer patients,” he said.
“We need to find alternatives and specific treatments so we can give people specific treatments for their disease.”
Dr Teo is one of only 11 researchers who will appear before US congress next week as part of Barack Obama’s brain mapping initiative, and plans to “impress upon them the urgency of funding brain cancer research”.
Carrie bravely spoke about the little known killer and the need for more research into brain cancer, urging Australians to get behind brain cancer awareness week.
“I don’t think people realise the mental and physical impact it has on people over time as the disease progresses,” she said holding back tears.
“It is fatal in most cases and I think a lot of people wouldn’t realise that.
“I think there’s a lot of focus on other cancers and I think this is a cancer that needs to be bumped up in terms of attention.”
To find out how you can help support research into brain cancer, visit cureforlife.org.au
