Record
November 20 2013
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10,500 copies distributed weekly to Rolleston, West Melton, Darfield and districts
Battling prostate cancer and winning by Kent Caddick
Grandmother inspires new board chair
When Darfield’s Jack Blair received the diagnosis he had prostate cancer he knew he was in the best of hands for his impending battle to beat the disease.
Two new faces and the return of an old one are the features of the new Selwyn Central Community Board …
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The president and his first lady
This year’s Courtenay A&P show president Hamish Reid has had a long association with the show …
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Jack Blair taking it easy, while in the background wife Judith works on her roster of volunteer drivers for the Malvern Cancer Support Group
Budding young farmers show focus P22
“My wife Judith had been involved with the Malvern Cancer Support Group for 10 years so I knew I was in good hands,” 72-year-old Jack, a retired painter and decorator, said. “It is really important to have a positive partner and to tell all your friends and family what you are going through, so you can talk about how you are feeling rather than bottle it all up inside you.” This month, or Movember as it has been renamed, is Men’s Health
Awareness month, with a focus on prostate cancer as the most common cancer found in New Zealand men. Jack’s prostate cancer diagnosis came out of the blue for the Blairs. “I had a major back operation in March 2010 and it was through one of the follow up blood tests that we discovered I had prostate cancer. It came as a real shock. There was nothing that had given me any indication I could have had
prostate cancer. I was getting up a bit more often in the night to go to the toilet but that is often just a sign of getting older.” Jack was given two choices for treatment, radiotherapy or an operation to remove the prostate gland. He chose radiotherapy, which he said has around a 70% success rate, and so began an eight week treatment course.
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