There’s no denying that radio king Alan Jones, AO, is contrary, cantankerous and combative, with his no-holds-barred approach to life winning listeners across the country, as well as every radio ratings survey in history.
An equally tough, get-on-with-it attitude towards prostate cancer and then a brain tumour have earned him the respect of prime ministers, presidents and his devoted listeners; he has endured no less than five operations in the past year.
But it’s not just his own struggles that have made the subject of brain tumours deeply personal for Alan.
First there was the devastation of losing his friend Aaron McMillan, a brilliant pianist who put together a collection of piano works from a hospice bed before he died of a brain tumour in 2007. Alan fulfilled Aaron’s dream by sponsoring production of his CDs to the tune of $35,000.
Equally, Alan provided emotional support to reality TV doctor Chris O’Brien, the inspirational head and neck cancer specialist who died in June this year, ironically from a brain tumour.
“I supported Aaron because he was such a wonderful fighter and I encourage all people with cancer or a negative diagnosis to set their face and mind against it,” Alan says.
“On top of that, Aaron was uncomplaining. People don’t want to hear you whingeing. Get on with it. Look for the good things … and that’s what we talked about. Because the music was his creation and inspiration, I thought the world was entitled to hear it.
“Chris, too, was a fighter. You must fight. Some people lose, not because they’re beaten, but because they didn’t fight.”
Now, not even a year after Alan’s own diagnosis of a benign thumbnail-sized brain tumour that threatened to invade his vocal cords, he has turned to yet another musical project to help others.
This time Alan is helping babies and children with brain tumours by promoting and singing on a delightful children’s rock ’n’ roll nursery rhyme CD.
Family and friends of children with tumours and a few tumour patients sing their hearts out to raise awareness for brain tumours, the most common solid childhood cancer in children, and one of the most difficult to treat.
Country stars Troy Cassar-Daley and Felicity Urquhart, Home And Away’s Rebecca Breeds, top trumpeter James Morrison, and children’s entertainer George Washingmachine all perform on the CD along with Alan.
They’re joined by the Skat Kats band, started up by family and friends of children with brain tumours, and even some of the patients themselves.
“It’s easy to support a project which helps young people be happy in their environment, especially if at times that environment involves personal struggle,” Alan says.
“Music is one of the great languages of life and gives us a capacity to think beyond the circumstances that envelop us.”
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