V8 Supercars joins fight against prostate cancer

V8 Supercars has appointed Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) as the official charity for the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint, held at Symmons Plains Raceway across the weekend of March 27-29.

PCFA is a broad-based community organisation and the peak national body for prostate cancer in Australia. PCFA is dedicated to reducing the impact of prostate cancer on Australian men, their partners, families and the wider community.

More than 3300 men die of prostate cancer in Australia every year: more men die of prostate cancer than women die of breast cancer.

Getting the message out to Tasmanians is even more important, given the fact that men who live in regional or rural areas have a 21 per cent lower chance of survival than their city-living counterparts.

PCFA provides a number of support services to help men, their partners and their families deal with their diagnosis, treatment, and advanced disease and survivorship issues. This ranges from peer led support through a network of 178 affiliated Support Groups located across Australia, through to hospital based Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurses.

Associate Professor Anthony Lowe, PCFA Chief Executive Officer is delighted to be partnering with V8 Supercars.

"One of our Prostate Cancer Specialist Nurses placed in hospitals around Australia is located in Launceston. These Specialist Nurses form a critical aspect of ongoing prostate cancer care that helps families navigate around difficult areas such as treatment and ongoing hospital visits," Lowe said.

"A diagnosis of prostate cancer causes significant anxiety for men and their families and our Specialist Nurses are there all along the way - right from the beginning."

For details regarding accessing an affiliated Support Group in your local area, refer to PCFA's website.

The Tasmanian V8 Supercars event naming rights partner Tyrepower has also teamed up with PCFA nationwide to put some power into the fight against prostate cancer.

At the event, Tyrepower ambassadors together with PCFA staff will be collecting donations on behalf of the charity.All funds raised at the event will support PCFA's Prostate CancerSpecialist Nursing Program.

It is for all these reasons and more that V8 Supercars chose to partner with PCFA as the official charity for the Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint in 2015.