1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:05,920
Speaker 1: Latest figures on leukemia. Today is Well Leukemia Day, but

2
00:00:06,000 --> 00:00:09,760
Speaker 1: the latest figure show fifty three hundred of US will

3
00:00:09,760 --> 00:00:15,040
Speaker 1: be diagnosed this year across the country and the terrible

4
00:00:15,200 --> 00:00:17,640
Speaker 1: stat on that is the number is set to more

5
00:00:17,680 --> 00:00:22,520
Speaker 1: than double by twenty thirty five. Chris Tante see the

6
00:00:22,680 --> 00:00:26,599
Speaker 1: Leukemia Foundation of Australia. Chris, good morning, Good morning, Matt.

7
00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:30,960
Speaker 1: How are we going with research for leukemia?

8
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,919
Speaker 2: Look, we we're not doing enough, clearly, and we you know,

9
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:38,960
Speaker 2: there are some solutions for people in our survival rates

10
00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,000
Speaker 2: are increasing, but there's a lot more that we can

11
00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:48,680
Speaker 2: do in this space, and we we know that the

12
00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,559
Speaker 2: solution is in the science and unless we invest in

13
00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:53,800
Speaker 2: the science, we're not likely to get the outcomes that

14
00:00:53,840 --> 00:00:54,520
Speaker 2: we're looking for.

15
00:00:56,080 --> 00:00:58,720
Speaker 1: It seems to be an illness that affects children and

16
00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:00,880
Speaker 1: those over fifty.

17
00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:07,399
Speaker 2: Yeah, look it's indiscriminate. It affects newborns right up until

18
00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,720
Speaker 2: the age of right up to the older ages. And

19
00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:13,480
Speaker 2: in fact it's not something you know, the focus has

20
00:01:13,520 --> 00:01:15,640
Speaker 2: been for a long time on children, because of course

21
00:01:15,640 --> 00:01:20,160
Speaker 2: it's devastating when children are unwell, but largely it affects

22
00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:25,160
Speaker 2: the over fifties. So it disproportionately affects older people, even

23
00:01:25,160 --> 00:01:28,440
Speaker 2: though the focus has been on children. Even patients who

24
00:01:28,440 --> 00:01:31,720
Speaker 2: have been diagnosed with their thirties and forties have said, well, gee,

25
00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,479
Speaker 2: I thought it was something that affected children. I can't

26
00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:38,920
Speaker 2: possibly have leukemia, but it does affect older people. Absolutely.

27
00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:41,960
Speaker 1: Is there a cure for it yet? I mean in

28
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:47,000
Speaker 1: terms of a treatment that can improve the chances of survivability.

29
00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:52,440
Speaker 2: Look, there's a range of treatments from chemotherapies them cell transplants,

30
00:01:52,840 --> 00:01:55,520
Speaker 2: and we're getting better at that, and survival rates are

31
00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:59,120
Speaker 2: increasing for most of the blood cancers, but we don't

32
00:01:59,160 --> 00:02:02,760
Speaker 2: have a cure. And you know, one of our targets

33
00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:05,960
Speaker 2: is that there are no lives lost to lukemia via

34
00:02:06,000 --> 00:02:08,120
Speaker 2: twenty thirty five. And I think that's a really really

35
00:02:08,160 --> 00:02:12,960
Speaker 2: important target. But largely, if we don't invest in sciences,

36
00:02:12,960 --> 00:02:15,600
Speaker 2: if we don't invest in research, then we're not going

37
00:02:15,639 --> 00:02:19,280
Speaker 2: to see the sorts of survival rates that we would

38
00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,880
Speaker 2: hope for. I mean, out of you know, the five

39
00:02:21,919 --> 00:02:24,920
Speaker 2: and a half thousand people that you mentioned earlier, a

40
00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:27,280
Speaker 2: third of those will lose their lives to blood cancer

41
00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:27,679
Speaker 2: this year.

42
00:02:27,840 --> 00:02:32,840
Speaker 1: So it's still not good enough now, are we is

43
00:02:32,880 --> 00:02:35,800
Speaker 1: a science advancing to meet your target. I mean, you're

44
00:02:35,800 --> 00:02:38,040
Speaker 1: saying a lot more needs to be done, But if

45
00:02:38,040 --> 00:02:40,000
Speaker 1: you come up with a target like that, hopefully the

46
00:02:40,040 --> 00:02:42,840
Speaker 1: science is on track to help you achieve that.

47
00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:47,880
Speaker 2: Look right, across health, I think science is amazing us

48
00:02:47,880 --> 00:02:50,040
Speaker 2: all the time. You know, we reflect on the COVID

49
00:02:50,040 --> 00:02:53,079
Speaker 2: period and how quickly we got a vaccine and how

50
00:02:53,160 --> 00:02:56,200
Speaker 2: quickly was circulated. Yet maybe it wasn't fast enough, but

51
00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:00,120
Speaker 2: there was a vaccine, and there were numerous vaccines, but

52
00:03:00,200 --> 00:03:03,639
Speaker 2: there was a huge investment in order to get those vaccines.

53
00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:06,080
Speaker 2: And I think the only thing that's missing in this

54
00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:12,560
Speaker 2: equation is the investment in research, because otherwise, if we

55
00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,560
Speaker 2: had people constantly looking at the ways that we can

56
00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,280
Speaker 2: ensure survival, I'm pretty sure that we could find a cure.

57
00:03:23,240 --> 00:03:28,360
Speaker 1: Okay, at risk factors for lukemia, are there any common illnesses,

58
00:03:28,520 --> 00:03:33,440
Speaker 1: railments or factors that can be used to predict the illness?

59
00:03:34,639 --> 00:03:39,000
Speaker 2: No, No, it's unfortunately, it's one of those things that

60
00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:42,520
Speaker 2: you can't screen for, so unlike breast or prostate cancer

61
00:03:42,560 --> 00:03:46,560
Speaker 2: or any number of cancers. You can't screen for breast cancer,

62
00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:49,000
Speaker 2: so you can't screen for blood cancer. So you really

63
00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:52,840
Speaker 2: rely on the individual themselves to get themselves to understand

64
00:03:52,880 --> 00:03:55,120
Speaker 2: what the signs and symptoms are firstly, and then to

65
00:03:55,120 --> 00:03:57,560
Speaker 2: get themselves off to a GP. And I might, if

66
00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,960
Speaker 2: you've got time, rattle off some of the signs and symptoms.

67
00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:04,400
Speaker 2: It's really important that people understand that. So recurrent infections

68
00:04:05,400 --> 00:04:10,640
Speaker 2: increase fatigue, night sweat, bone pain, unexplained weight loss, bruising,

69
00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:13,720
Speaker 2: and enlarged nymph nodes. So anyone that's had the flu

70
00:04:13,880 --> 00:04:17,080
Speaker 2: knows that you are likely to experience some of those

71
00:04:17,080 --> 00:04:20,039
Speaker 2: symptoms when you have the flu. The difference with this

72
00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:22,920
Speaker 2: is that these symptoms persist and they don't go away.

73
00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,200
Speaker 2: So you normally recover from a flu within four days.

74
00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:32,520
Speaker 2: But you know, these are different signs and they're subtle,

75
00:04:32,560 --> 00:04:35,000
Speaker 2: and people tend to get on with their lives. The

76
00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,960
Speaker 2: important thing about treatment is you get in early and

77
00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:40,960
Speaker 2: you have a better chance of survival. So once you

78
00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,400
Speaker 2: detect these symptoms, it's important to get yourself up to

79
00:04:43,440 --> 00:04:43,800
Speaker 2: your GP.

80
00:04:45,040 --> 00:04:48,080
Speaker 1: Okay, older people, I mean some of those symptoms are

81
00:04:48,080 --> 00:04:53,240
Speaker 1: bruising easily. Older people tend to bruise more easily. Yeah, correct,

82
00:04:53,279 --> 00:04:55,480
Speaker 1: as we all age, and that's you know, then the

83
00:04:55,960 --> 00:04:59,760
Speaker 1: system the symptom rather becomes master a little bit, doesn't that.

84
00:04:59,760 --> 00:05:03,400
Speaker 2: As go through Yeah, and this is the problem. It's

85
00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:05,719
Speaker 2: sort of you know, I mean, we all know, and

86
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:07,960
Speaker 2: I'm aging, and we're all aging, and we know as

87
00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:12,719
Speaker 2: we age that our body is more susceptible to things

88
00:05:12,839 --> 00:05:19,160
Speaker 2: like bruising and joint pain and bone pain, etc. But sometimes,

89
00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:22,440
Speaker 2: you know, if we understand our bodies reasonably well, we

90
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,840
Speaker 2: understand the difference between a bruise that you know, you

91
00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:29,120
Speaker 2: might have knocked yourself on a corner of a table,

92
00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,920
Speaker 2: and then a bruise that just appears for no apparent reason.

93
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,600
Speaker 2: They're the sorts of things that I would watch out for.

94
00:05:35,720 --> 00:05:38,480
Speaker 2: So if these things are just coming out of the blue,

95
00:05:39,520 --> 00:05:42,000
Speaker 2: chances are there might be something else going on, So

96
00:05:42,320 --> 00:05:43,520
Speaker 2: get it checked out.

97
00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:46,960
Speaker 1: Yeah, and the end, you'll visit to the doctor for

98
00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:49,760
Speaker 1: a blood test and whatever else. A general kind of

99
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:51,800
Speaker 1: check up is not a bad thing when you get

100
00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:52,440
Speaker 1: to fifty or.

101
00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,279
Speaker 2: Over, No, it's not. I have an annual grease and

102
00:05:56,320 --> 00:06:00,760
Speaker 2: oil change, and I think it's important meant to do that.

103
00:06:00,800 --> 00:06:02,719
Speaker 2: You know, men are terrible as going to the doctors,

104
00:06:02,760 --> 00:06:06,520
Speaker 2: are terrible going to the GP. And you know, I

105
00:06:06,520 --> 00:06:12,279
Speaker 2: think we can improve survival rates just across helpful stop.

106
00:06:13,120 --> 00:06:16,000
Speaker 2: If men got checked on a more regular.

107
00:06:15,720 --> 00:06:20,880
Speaker 1: Basis, absolutely good advice and everyone too for that matter. Chris,

108
00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:22,760
Speaker 1: really appreciate your time coming on today.

109
00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:25,120
Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you very much, thank you.

110
00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,360
Speaker 1: It is Well Leukemia Day. That's Chris Tanty, the CEO

111
00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 1: of the Leukemia Foundation, with as I said at the start,

112
00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:37,159
Speaker 1: fifty three hundred Australians to be diagnosed with leukemia this year.

113
00:06:37,520 --> 00:06:41,039
Speaker 1: That's not a great stat and the science well, I

114
00:06:41,080 --> 00:06:44,239
Speaker 1: suppose scientists are doing their best to find a solution,

115
00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:49,760
Speaker 1: but it is something that is needed right across the board,

116
00:06:49,800 --> 00:06:52,960
Speaker 1: not just with leukemia, but but all illnesses of course,