Professor Graham Newstead is treating himself to a trip to an early onset bowel cancer conference for his 83rd birthday.
Professor Graham Newstead wants to make bowels dinner-table conversation in Australia.
“I’m very excited,” he told Gut Republic about the news that he was being appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia, “for distinguished service to colorectal surgical medicine and training, to bowel cancer awareness, education and prevention, and to professional societies”.
“But at the same time, the best part is that when people such as yourselves are ringing to get a bit of background, it’s helping Bowel Cancer Australia, because it gives us publicity,” he said.
“And that might, in itself, save yet another life, because somebody actually does the test.”
Professor Newstead has been the medical director of BCA since 2014, and chair of the Bowel Cancer Foundation since 2010.
Bowels are his thing.
“This may not be publishable, but my aim in the latter part of my life is to make bowels dinner table conversation,” he said.
“I get knocked back by the board of BCA regularly when, as medical director, I propose that our ribbon should not be yellow or pink or whatever. I want a brown ribbon!
“We have in Australia, without question – it took us 25, 30 years – the best screening bowel cancer prevention program in the entire world, and that includes the US.
“The US talks publicly about getting yourself screened and don’t forget to do the test and look out for symptoms, but they don’t have a screening program. In Australia, if you’re covered by Medicare, you get in the mail, every two years, a screening kit.”
Now 82 – he turns 83 next week – Professor Newstead spends his retirement trying to persuade other countries to adopt screening programs.
“I went to India recently to look at this as a possibility for not 27 million, as in Australia, but one and a quarter billion people speaking about 150 languages,” he said.
“So, I’m having fun. It keeps me out of my wife’s hair during the day. I get up to have a coffee at 8am instead of having to have one to go and do work at 5:30am, so I’m loving that.
“And I actually say now, even to the individual cab driver, let alone the world, ‘Are you 50 and have you done your screening test?’
“Well, that’s amazing.”
Professor Newstead says the biggest problem now is young onset bowel cancer.
“Eleven percent of bowel cancers that are occurring in Australia are occurring now in people under 50,” he said.
“What we’re doing now is educational modules for GPs so they understand in Australia that it is becoming common. This is not a first world country phenomenon. It is occurring in larger numbers in young people throughout the world, in second world countries as well.
“We don’t have figures for third world generally, but it is on the increase. The increase is phenomenal, and so that’s why we’re pushing now for screening and trying to find the cause of young onset bowel cancer.”
In two weeks, the CEO of Bowel Cancer Australia and Professor Newstead are going as representatives for Australia to the first world meeting on young onset bowel cancer.
“That’s my birthday present,” he said.
