Terry Young (Longman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This morning, I attended the #Never2Young Bowel Cancer Australia event in the Main Committee Room. It hits most of us because, in some way, shape or form, most of us have had a loved one or someone we know that's been affected by this terrible disease. My mother-in-law passed from bowel cancer, and, unfortunately, they got it too late. It was already in her liver, and she was gone a year after diagnosis, which was incredibly sad for the family. I met with an incredible young woman today, Tara Signall, who is just in her 40s and has suffered with IBS for many, many years. She came home from an overseas trip and something didn't feel right. She went and got checked and she was diagnosed, in her 40s, with bowel cancer. She has a young family. She endured the chemotherapy treatment, which is quite harsh, as we know, but her attitude was superb. She came down today because the perception, which is incorrect, of course, is that bowel cancer is an old person's disease, and, more and more, younger people are being diagnosed with this insidious disease. She wants to spread the awareness so people don't have to suffer like she did. I want to encourage everyone out there, if you're having any sort of symptoms or irregularity in your bowel movements, by all means, no matter how old you are, please make sure you go and get checked out, because the fact of the matter is that, if they can diagnose it early, 90 per cent of the cases are cured. Please go and get yourself checked out and do yourself a favour.

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