Fiona Stanley Hospital urological surgeon puts songwriting talent to the test for Below the Belt campaign

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Fiona Stanley Hospital urological surgeon puts songwriting talent to the test for Below The Belt campaign

Credit: Adam Poulson | Melville Gazette | August 31, 2020

A urological surgeon at Fiona Stanley Hospital has put his musical skills to use promoting a fundraising campaign for “below the belt” cancer research.

Professor Dickon Hayne has a list of titles as long as his arm, though “musician” is not one he wears comfortably.

Yet Prof. Hayne, who is heavily involved with the Australian and New Zealand Urogenital and Prostate (ANZUP) Cancer Trials Group, has had a lifelong love of music.

So when COVID-19 lockdowns were enforced, he busied himself writing songs with daughters Natasha and Zoe, who are keen vocalists.

One of those compositions, dubbed Your Way, has since been adopted as the theme song for ANZUP’s seventh annual Below The Belt fundraiser.

“ANZUP is a charity that supports conducting really high quality trials to try and push the boundaries in cancer care,” Prof. Hayne explained.

With COVID-19 making such an event impossible, this year’s fundraiser was extended for the entire month of September, with participants encouraged to walk, run, cycle or swim as many kilometres as possible.

Prof. Hayne said money raised would go towards research and clinical trials to improve the lives of people with prostate, testicular, bladder, kidney and penile cancers.

“The idea of calling them ‘below the belt’ cancers is trying to draw attention to the fact that people are more embarrassed to talk about bladder cancer or prostate cancer, for example, and it’s really important that people do present to their doctors when they have symptoms, because it can make a big difference,” he said.

“A classic one is blood in the urine for bladder cancer. It’s so important if people see blood in their pee, even once, that they go and see their doctor.”

Visit https://www.belowthebelt.org.au/event/ yourway2020/donate to donate.

“It’s the organisation that’s actually getting urogenital cancer research done in Australia, so I’m absolutely a signed-up supporter.

“I just asked them, ‘Do you want to use this song for something’, and the title gave them the idea for the campaign.”

Below The Belt campaigns usually involve mass pedalthons in NSW and Victoria, which since 2014 have raised about $1.75 million.

MUSICIAN AND PROFESSOR OF UROLOGY, DICKON HAYNE. CREDIT: ADAM POULSEN/MELVILLE GAZETTE

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34 A LITTLE BELOW THE BELT