RoCan
ROCAN - Rotary Against Ovarian Cancer - is a trust fund established by Rotary Club of Williamstown in 2003 with the objective of increasing community awareness of this deadly disease.
Ovarian cancer is the predominant form of gynaecological cancer, claiming the lives of hundreds of women each year. By the time that most women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer, it has spread throughout the body and the survival rate is less than 30%. If ovarian cancer could be detected at an early stage, before it has left the ovary, then the survival rate would be greater than 85%.
Currently there is no community-based screening test for early stage ovarian cancer. Most people mistakenly believe that the Pap cancer smear will detect all gynaecological abnormalities, but this is not the case.
This year, more than 1200 women in Australia will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Over 700 women will die from the disease. ROCAN'S fund raising aims to provide the financial resources to find an early stage diagnostic test to increase the survival rate of women affected.
Our major fund raising effort for RoCAN is via the annual Ride to Conference cycling event (recently re-named the ROCAN charity ride).