MEDIA RELEASE
Determined prostate cancer fighter leads the way as men start to get the
message
Sydney, 22nd December 2009: The power of commitment to a cause is never more evident than in the
life of Tony Sonneveld. His battle with prostate cancer goes on, but rather than hampering his efforts to
raise awareness about the disease, it just seems to fuel more initiatives and more commitment.
Tony is the Chairman of the NSW Board of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (PCFA) and
recently finished in the national Top 20 fund raisers for Movember, raising nearly $9,000 to help support
research into prostate cancer and depression.
He is also a National Men’s Health Ambassador, having now made more than a dozen presentations to
groups of men about the best way to raise awareness about continence health and prostate health.
Tony has a very clear and personal motivation for participating in Movember and helping to raise
awareness about the importance of testing and prevention.
"Helping make a success of Movember will mean more funding to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of
Australia for research into finding a cure or control mechanism for prostate cancer. My father and father-
in-law died of prostate cancer and I have advanced prostate cancer with a prognosis of only three to five
years. Unfortunately my adult sons and grandson will have a pre-disposition to this insidious disease."
According to PCFA CEO Andrew Giles, Tony’s decision to live a life of advocacy and awareness raising
epitomises the contribution made by many volunteers and fund raisers right across Australia.
“The increased awareness we are seeing about men’s health in general and prostate cancer in particular
is testimony to the work of people like Tony Sonneveld. Remember, there is no major government
funded national mass media campaign about prostate health, like there is about smoking and drink-
driving. The increased awareness and public discussion has really been driven by the prostate cancer
support groups, the Ambassador program and
by thousands of volunteers like Tony Sonneveld who
work tirelessly to help amplify the work of the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia,” said Giles.
PCFA recognises the outstanding success of the Movember Foundation who are actively “changing the
face of men’s health”. Mr Giles commended all Australians who helped support the campaign.
“The blokes who grew mo’s and all the people who supported them should be congratulated on their
contribution to a fantastic effort. The funds from Movember play a crucial role in supporting researchers
all around Australia who are developing new diagnostic tests, scrutinising new biomarkers or testing new
treatment protocols,” said Giles.
Latest figures show that each year nearly 19,000 Australian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and
tragically almost 3,000 men die every year from the disease.
In the early stages
there are few symptoms of prostate cancer.
However,
if detected early, prostate
cancer is often treatable and curable.
In 2009, 128,561 Australian Men participated in Movember. They raised nearly $20 million for research
into prostate cancer and depression in men.
Ends
For more information, or to interview Tony Sonneveld, or to build a broader feature story regarding this
release, please contact Margo Field
(0418 419 258)
or Karina Candia (0402 307 056)
at Palin
Communications on 02 9412 2255
NEWS 
