In the Spotlight: Mr Raymond Yap

Let’s Beat Bowel Cancer

Let’s Beat Bowel Cancer (LBBC) is a health promotion initiative of Cabrini. Our mission is to significantly lower deaths related to bowel cancer through prevention and research.

Bowel cancer, also known as colorectal cancer, is a leading cause of cancer death in Australia and has one of the highest (and increasing) incidence rates in the world. In Australia in 2020, it is estimated that there will be 15,494 new cases of bowel cancer, and that globally the incidence of bowel cancer will increase by 60% by 2035. If found early, approximately 90% of bowel cancer cases can be treated successfully, however fewer than 50% are detected early. Our work mitigates suffering and ultimately, we hope will help find a cure for bowel cancer. Through the LBBC initiative, we are campaigning for awareness, prevention and cure of bowel cancer.

New equipment to further research

Let’s Beat Bowel Cancer donated an organoid seeding machine to the Cabrini Monash University Department of Surgery’s organoid research project. The machine is a liquid handling robot that enables researchers to plate (seed) organoids into multi-well plates for drug screening analyses. Our research department will use this machine to screen drugs that are already used in the clinic to determine if we can predict how patients will respond to therapy. It will also be used to screen panels of other drugs that are not currently used to treat bowel cancer so that we can determine whether any may be effective in treating patients who might otherwise be unresponsive or develop resistance to traditional chemotherapy drugs. This is an incredible step forward for us and will hopefully lead to some groundbreaking treatments and future clinical trials for patients, potentially saving more lives. The machine is currently being used by Cabrini Monash University Department of Surgery’s senior research fellow Dr Rebekah Engel.

LBBC Golf Classic 2019.

LBBC Golf Classic 2019

Blue skies and the perfectly manicured greens of Melbourne’s premiere sand belt course, Kingston Heath, welcomed our sponsors and guests for the 2019 Let’s Beat Bowel Cancer (LBBC) Golf Classic. Held annually on the second Tuesday in October, this year marked the 15th year of this wonderful fundraising event. Twenty-nine teams comprising 116 players, our biggest group of players since its inception, joined our special guest golf pro Nick O’Hern for another sensational day raising funds for LBBC’s public awareness and research projects.