MARC Harbrow knows too well the burdens placed on the families of those who have to fight a life threatening condition. The leukemia survivor was forced to spend nine months in Townsville Hospital and his family moved to Townsville to be with him.
"Mum and Dad had to move immediately to Townsville and everything changed because I got sick," he said yesterday. "Dad was in Melbourne and Mum was in Cairns and they had to live in a unit put up by the oncology ward. My young brother (Western Bulldogs player Jarrod Harbrow) had to change school and play for a new club."
The fact other Far North Queensland families have had to endure such upheavals in their lives has convinced Harbrow that Cairns requires its own oncology service for those battling cancer.
Harbrow said his effort to beat leukemia would have been made easier if he could have stayed in his home city. "It would have made me feel much more at home and would have helped with my recovery, especially mentally," he said. "Part of the recovery was that doctors were always saying that you've got to think positively and I would have been able to do that easier if I was still in Cairns."It was difficult not seeing a lot of friends and (some) family because not everyone has got a car or can travel."
Harbrow has leant his support to the AFL and AFL Cairns Target 10,000 campaign in which it is hoped 10,000 spectators will attend Friday night's NAB Challenge match between Melbourne and Richmond at Cazalys Stadium.
The AFL will donate $1 per person attending the game and AFL Cairns will add another 50c per person in a bid to raise $15,000 for the Committee for Oncology Cairns Hospital bid to have a cancer care precinct added to Cairns' hospital services.
Courtesy of the Cairns Post
Last Modified on 11/02/2009 10:07