ABOUT US
An organisation created by need. Immense need
Up until 2010, despite bowel cancer being the second biggest cancer killer in New Zealand, no one was advocating for bowel cancer or working to increase awareness of symptoms. So a group of bowel cancer survivors joined forces with industry experts, and founded our much-needed charitable organisation.
Our key milestones
Our charitable organisation was launched at Parliament by a group of New Zealanders affected by bowel cancer, with the support of clinicians committed to improving bowel cancer awareness among the general public and health professionals.
The first ‘Call to Action’ was developed to hold Government to account and ensure equitable care and improve outcomes for bowel cancer patients.
We launched the highly successful social media Christmas campaign ‘I Give a Crap’, featuring Sam Neill, Valerie Adams and Nigel Latta, among other celebrities.
$100,000 was raised to fund a national bowel cancer case control study at Otago University, led by Professor Brian Cox. This was the first trial researching bowel cancer causes in New Zealand.
We launched our patient and whānau online support group.
New Zealand’s first bowel cancer screening programme was announced. We’ve been the strongest voice calling for a nationwide programme, which is now being rolled out across the country.
Our award-winning ‘Never Too Young’ campaign was launched nationwide, helping raise awareness that bowel cancer can strike at any age and encouraging Kiwis not to ‘sit on their symptoms’ (see nevertooyoung.org.nz and #nevertooyoung).
We launched our nurse support service line providing expert support via email 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for those affected by bowel cancer.
We kicked off our Move your Butt fundraiser to encourage New Zealanders to get moving toward better bowel health and to raise funds to beat bowel cancer. #moveyourbutt.