Twenty year celebrations for cancer support group

Dr Ian Gawler OAM will help the Border Cancer Support Group celebrate its 20th anniversary at The Commercial Club in Albury on Sunday September 28.
Dr Gawler established Australia’s first cancer support group back in 1983 and five years later was instrumental in helping the Border Cancer Support Group (BCSG) get off the ground.
BCSG secretary Eric Turner said Dr Gawler’s work continues to play an important role in the organisation.
“The Support Group was established by Cliff and Wilma Drummond on September 18, 1988,” Eric said.
“Their daughter Janice had been diagnosed with a brain tumor and there were no cancer support groups up this way at all.
“The family had participated in one of The Gawler Foundation’s lifestyle programs and Janice moved to Wodonga to live with her parents,” he said.
Cliff and Wilma invited Dr Gawler to help them establish the first cancer support group in the Albury-Wodonga area and twenty years later, the group is still going strong.
“We’re thrilled that Ian is going to be here to help us commemorate our 20th anniversary,” Eric said
The group has run continuously since September 1988 and meets on the first Monday of the month at the Murray Valley Private Hospital in Wodonga.
“Our monthly meetings take on board the principles taught by Ian and The Gawler Foundation,” Eric said.
These principles are designed to activate the body’s own healing mechanisms and include meditation, nutrition and support.
They are not considered ‘alternative’ principles; they are designed to work in conjunction with any cancer treatment.
“A lifestyle program focuses on what a person can do for themselves and includes the support of family and friends,” said Dr Gawler.
“The Gawler Foundation presents a lifestyle program which focuses on how people can be helped to work with their medical treatments to minimise side effects and to increase their chances of survival.
“We believe that a lifestyle program is an essential part of best practice management of cancer and needs to be available and encouraged for everyone from the point of first diagnosis, just as in heart disease and type 2 diabetes,” he said.
The Gawler Foundation is a non-profit, non-denominational organisation and is fully committed to making its lifestyle program available to all people affected by cancer in Australia.
To be a part of the group’s 20th anniversary celebrations, contact Eric Turner on 0419 624686.

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