Blood cancer is set to become Australia’s most common and deadly cancer with the number of cases expected to double within a decade.
It remains one of the only cancers you can’t screen or prevent, so there are urgent calls for more critical research to be done.
At just 20 years old Xavier Saviene was a fit and healthy footy player from Preston.
Two months ago he was diagnosed with blood cancer, part of what’s being called Australia’s silent and hidden cancer crisis.
“I just cried in my mum’s arms for about half an hour,” Saviene said.
“Just trying to process it all, ’cause it’s very hard to process in the moment.”
Professor Wendy Ebrer from the University of Western Australia said the odds of someone you know getting blood cancer are higher than you’d think.
“For every 12 people you know, one of them is going to be unlucky and get a blood cancer,” she said.
The percentage share of research in prevention, early detection and diagnosis lacks behind many other cancers.
For cervical cancer it’s 90 per cent, melanoma 55 per cent, followed by lung, prostate, bowel and breast cancers. While blood cancer is drastically behind at just 12 per cent.
“At the moment we don’t know what causes blood cancer,” The Leukemia Foundation’s Bill Stavreski said.
“We cannot prevent it. We cannot screen for it, and we need those insights and learnings to be able to combat the increase.”
The Leukemia Foundation say their “World’s Greatest Shave” is more important than ever.
Saviene and his mates got behind the cause to raise vital funds for research.
“We shaved 20 blokes’ heads and it was so good and we raised, I think it’s at $21,000 now, which is pretty amazing,” Saviene said.
“I wasn’t expecting that, I set the goal to $3500 and we smashed it out of the park.”
Despite having undergone spinal surgery and multiple rounds of chemotherapy Saviene is looking at the positives.
“It was a really special day and I’d do it again if I could, but I’ve got no hair now, so.”
