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Prostate Cancer Support Volunteers Graham and Adele Staggs (OAMs)

Prostate Cancer Support Volunteers Graham Staggs And Adele Staggs
Prostate cancer support volunteers graham and adela staggs (oams) were recognised along with other local community members at the australia day awards
Graham Staggs (OAM) and his wife Adele Staggs (OAM) from Glenhaven have both been honoured for their work with the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia for nearly 20 years.
Now in their 80s the couple say the honours are “absoloutely amazing”.

Adele said her husband underwent surgery for prostate cancer in 2004 and the surgeon suggested he attend the Prostate Support organisation at The Sydney Adventist Hospital.

“It started from there,” she said. “He was (then) asked by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia to join the Chapeer Council (representing NSW) and from there he was asked if he would lead a support group in Dural.

Graham founded the Dural and District Prostate Cancer Support Group in 2012 and has seen it grown to help hundreds of people.

“It does make a big difference to some people when they realise they are not alone in this and they realise there are many other men going through the same thing,” he said.

“We never give medical advice but were are experts in the experience.”

Adele said she started the carers’ support group because she could see that getting the support of other carers was important.

“We go to coffee shops and talk about how we are coping and people feel better.”

The Dural and District Prostate Cancer Support Group meets on the third Monday of the month at 7pm at the Blue Gum Centre at Glenhaven Green Village.

Bev Jordan

Bev Jordan studied journalism at Harlow College in the UK.  She achieves a Diploma in Journalism from the National Council for the Training of Journalists. After migrating to Australia at the end of 1984, she took up a Senior Journalist position with Cumberland Newspapers, based on the Parramatta Advertiser. She has since worked on the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald and was a lecturer in Journalism at Macleay College in Sydney. Bev returned to Cumberland Newspapers (NewsLocal) and worked for 30 years covering all different mastheads, including Mosman Daily, Mount Druitt Standard and finally Hills Shire Times for the last 17 of those years. Bev’s passion has always been local community journalism.  She says “As a journalist, I have always seen it as my job to inform, inspire and involve.  I am a passionate advocate for organisations and people making a difference to the world around them. Connectedness is so important to the health of an individual but also to a community, no matter how small or large.

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