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(l-r) Kate Berger (and son Jackson Curtis), Ashley Newman (and son Harper Thompson), Elise Green (with Xanti Austin) and Clare Bourke (Leche Cafe). The morning tea raised $650 for the Cancer Council. Image: Geoff Helisma.

Sipping tea for cancer research and support services

(l-r) Kate Berger (and son Jackson Curtis), Ashley Newman (and son Harper Thompson), Elise Green (with Xanti Austin) and Clare Bourke (Leche Cafe). The morning tea raised $650 for the Cancer Council. Image: Geoff Helisma.
(l-r) Kate Berger (and son Jackson Curtis), Ashley Newman (and daughter Harper Thompson), Elise Green (with Xanti Austin) and Clare Bourke (Leche Cafe). The morning tea raised $650 for the Cancer Council. Image: Geoff Helisma.
  Mothers and children from the ‘Tiny Toes Tuesdays’ social group, along with friends and family, enjoyed a ‘Biggest Morning Tea’ at the Leche Cafe in Yamba last Thursday. Elise Green, who organised the event, for which Leche donated a table laden with sweets and treats, said she’d “had a few friends affected by cancer over the past year”. “Even though we all come and have coffee pretty regularly with the children, we thought we’d do something positive this year,” she said. “All the girls who are in my mum’s group are here, and family friends; Tiny Toes Tuesdays is for the kids to play and the mums to have coffee.” Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea is a Cancer Council fundraising initiative; funds raised help the “Cancer Council save lives through the prevention, early detection and treatment of cancer”. “Last year Cancer Council raised over $13.6 million,” its website states; “we’re aiming to make this year bigger than our last by having more than 38,000 people host a morning tea around the country and setting our fundraising goal to $13.8 million.” Meanwhile, according to the Cancer Council, new data have revealed that many people receiving cancer care are not asked at their hospital appointments about their emotional wellbeing: while most are offered help to relieve physical symptoms such as pain, around 50 per cent of patients were not offered help to relieve emotional distress. The problem was revealed by Laureate Professor Rob Sanson-Fisher and his team at the University of Newcastle, who have received a large funding boost, as a part of Cancer Council NSW’s $4.5million dollar investment to improve support for people diagnosed with cancer. As a result of Professor Sanson-Fisher’s research, a new system of patient-centred care across cancer treatment centres in NSW will be implemented. The initiative “aims to improve the quality of care in reducing cancer survivors’ levels of anxiety, depression and unmet needs, while improving quality of life”. Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea coordinator, Sarah Royall, for Northern NSW Cancer Council said: “A cancer diagnosis can provide a myriad of challenges to the physical, emotional and social wellbeing of patients and their carers in the Northern Region. “Our support services offer more help for people at all stages of cancer; from our Cancer Connect peer support program for people who have completed treatment or are going through it, to pro bono legal and financial advice and survivorship programs, which help people navigate life after cancer. “We want anyone affected by cancer across Northern NSW to know that more information and support is out there. “Those wishing to find out more about Cancer Council NSW’s support services can contact Cancer Council 13 11 20 Information and Support.” The official date for Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea was Thursday May 26, however, events can are held anytime during May or June.