(by John Shields)
I started our Support Group after I was diagnosed back in May 2003. One of the first things that I wanted to do was to find the nearest Prostate Cancer Support Group so that my wife and I could talk with
other Men and Women who were already on the Prostate Cancer "journey". The only Prostate Cancer Support Group in Adelaide was at Burnside Hospital which is a 45 minute drive from here. On the way home I said to Phyllis that I was thinking about
starting a Support Group here in the city of Onkaparinga (population 150,000), and she said, well why don't you, so I did.
We were invited by a Social Worker to a meeting with the Chief Social Worker at Noarlunga Health Services and asked if we would like them to be our sponsor. We accepted, and with excellent help from The
Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the Cancer Council South Australia, and the PSA Adelaide Group, we had our first meeting in October 2003.
Our local Urologist, Doctor David Elder, was guest Speaker at our first meeting and has been very supportive ever since. We do have Guest Speakers at most of our meetings, however the main focus of our
Group is to Support each other so we make sure that we have quality time together at each meeting.
