All Black legend to launch $3m cancer unit bid

Mike Dinsdale | 7th March 2010

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All Black legend Buck Shelford will be one of the guest speakers at the launch of an ambitious project to raise $3 million to set up an oncology unit to treat some cancer patients in Northland.

Project Promise will be launched at a gala dinner in Whangarei on March 19 with a star-studded line-up, including Shelford, Commonwealth Games gold medallist Dick Tayler, Northland radio host John Markby and Whangarei lawyer, and TV host Rob Harte.

Health Minister Tony Ryall will officially launch the campaign, which aims to raise $3 million in three years to build a state-of-the-art oncology unit at Whangarei Hospital.

The unit will make life easier for many of the thousands of Northland cancer patients and their families, although some will still have to travel to Auckland for some treatment.

Project Promise is the brainchild of the Northland Community Foundation, which has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Northland District Health Board to build the cancer treatment unit at the hospital.

Cancer patients needing radiotherapy will still need to go to Auckland for some treatment, but the new unit would mean many Northland cancer patients and their families would not have to make the trip south.

Project Promise will be launched with a gala dinner at the 33 Events Centre, in Porowini Ave, Whangarei, on March 19, with 44 tables of 10 people.

There are still a few tables left for the launch.