GETTING from point A to point B is simple, surely.
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Not really when it’s from Walla to Albury and back again for regular cancer treatment.
Lorraine Dick, now 76, got by for several months last year with the help of her nieces but it was hard work for her and husband Charles, especially during her extensive course of chemotherapy.
“For about six hours every three weeks and that knocked the stuffing right out of me,” she said.
Then in August 2016, Mrs Dick became one of the first to use Cancer Council NSW’s Transport 2 Treatment, which offers patients free transport to and from their appointment at Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre.
“I don’t know what we’d have done without it, it’s been absolutely marvellous,” she said. “It just makes it so much easier for everyone.
“If you can use it, use it because it just lets your own family off the hook for a while. To me it’s better than winning the lottery, that’s how good it is.”
Money raised at the annual Border Relay For Life made the service possible while this year’s fundraiser will help add to the more than 500 trips completed so far.
Border Relay For Life committee co-chairperson Kate Wilkinson said planning for the October 21 relay at Alexandra Park, East Albury, was in full swing.
Eighty-one teams have registered, with the early bird discount to end on Friday. Family registration is also offered.
Ms Wilkinson said the money raised not only funded research into all types of cancer but also brought services like Transport 2 Treatment into the community.
“It’s really great to see it in action and to see the vehicles on the road,” she said.
Mrs Dick said she had experienced few symptoms before her diagnosis with ovarian cancer nearly 18 months ago.
“All I had was a puffed-up leg, my left leg all puffed up, and I decided I should go to the doctor,” she said.
“After a couple of weeks of blood tests and scans, you name it, I think I had everything possible, this is what they came up with and it was a hell of a shock, I can tell you.”
Mrs Dick’s brother had not long died of cancer, adding to her emotion.
“And even now sometimes I think is this right, am I going to wake up and find it all a nightmare?” she said. “No, it’s no nightmare, it’s real.
“You really just have to get on and do the best you can. It’s no good sitting down crying about it and making you miserable and everyone else miserable with it.”
- Registrations for this year’s Border Relay For Life can be completed at RelayForLife.org.au/Border