Picturesque Paynesville attracts retirees. It’s also the postcode with the highest rates of cancer
By Henrietta Cook, Aisha Dow and Craig Butt
Jenny Prowse upended her life to move to one of Victoria’s most picturesque waterfront towns.
She didn’t expect to confront her own mortality so soon after arriving in Paynesville.
Jenny Prowse moved to Paynesville four years ago.Credit: Joe Armao
Prowse, who moved to the holiday hotspot in the state’s east four years ago, decided to complete a home testing kit for the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program in 2021.
“I thought nothing of it,” she said of the kit, which had been gathering dust in a drawer for four months.
Prowse had no symptoms or family history of the disease, so was surprised when she received a letter saying some abnormalities had been picked up.
She visited her GP and arranged a colonoscopy at a local hospital, but the procedure couldn’t go ahead. A large tumour was blocking access to her colon.
“I knew it was cancer,” she recalls. “I had a gut feeling.”
Her gut feeling was correct: the mother-of-two had rectal cancer.
The 60-year-old’s brush with cancer is not uncommon in the Gippsland town. Prowse knows 10 residents who have been diagnosed with cancer in the past three years, including a friend who passed away six weeks ago.
More than 6 per cent of Paynesville residents say they have been diagnosed with cancer, compared with a statewide average of 2.8 per cent.
As well as cancer, Paynesville also has the state’s highest proportion of residents who say they have been diagnosed with heart disease and arthritis, according to The Age’s State of Our Health project, which is based on 2021 census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The prevalence of these conditions is inextricably linked to the town’s ageing population. You can use our interactive tool to check the state of your area’s health.
While the median age in Victoria is 38, the median age in Paynesville is 61, which means the town is home to the state’s oldest residents, many of whom have moved their during retirement.
Craig Sinclair, the director of Cancer Council Victoria’s prevention division, said age is a key risk factor for many cancers. This is because as we age, our body’s ability to repair damaged cells which can cause cancer, becomes less effective.
Paynesville in Gippsland is known as the state’s boating capitalCredit: Visit Victoria
Older people have also been exposed to carcinogens such as cigarette smoke, alcohol and ultraviolet radiation for a longer period of time.
“When you have a population like Paynesville, with many retirees and a greater percentage of the population in their older years, that is a substantial contribution to cancer risk,” Sinclair said. “Paynesville is a beautiful area. There is nothing environmental that would be causing [the high proportion of cancer cases].”
Obesity and smoking, which Sinclair said are more prevalent in regional and remote parts of the state, are also major risk factors.
Source:Credit: ABS
He said giving up smoking, not carrying excess weight, drinking responsibly, exercising and swapping processed foods for fresh fruit and vegetables reduces a person’s risk of cancer. People should also partake in screening programs and seek medical help if they notice an unusual lump, bleeding or a mole that has changed colour.
“Detecting cancer early is the best thing they can do,” Sinclair said. “It means the likelihood of treatment being successful is much higher.”
Cardiologist Tim Barton from Melbourne Heart Care said there is high demand for heart specialists in the Paynesville area. The Melbourne doctor travels to a clinic in Warragul, about two hours’ drive from Paynesville, once a week to treat patients from across Gippsland.
“Most patients who come to see us are probably sicker, and maybe waited for longer before coming to see us, as opposed to our practices in the city,” he said.
Barton said regional patients were presenting sicker because they had previously struggled to access help from their GPs. One of the key risk factors for developing heart disease is age, but Barton said there are other risk factors in areas where it is harder to access medical services.
“They might not be getting their cholesterol, diabetes or blood pressure checked as often as they should, or taking medications that we know prevent cardiovascular disease,” he explained.
Prowse said he was acutely aware of the difficulties accessing health services in the area.
There was no doctor at Bairnsdale Hospital who could treat her cancer, so she travelled to Melbourne for treatment. She raided her superannuation to fund six weeks of chemotherapy and radiation at a private hospital and many surgeries.
Jenny Prowse relaxes in her living room in Paynesville.Credit: Joe Armao
Yet Prowse was determined to stay positive. She would do her hair and make-up before every radiation session and wear one of her favourite dresses.
Every night, she would close her eyes and visualise her cancer in a box, and ensure that the box was locked. “I believe the mind can do amazing things,” she said.
“I locked my cancer in a cage. Every time I took a chemo tablet, I would see it shrinking.”
Prowse, who has been cancer-free for more than a year, said her experience has given her a new perspective on life.
One of her favourite places to unwind is on an electric recliner she purchased while undergoing treatment, that sits in her loungeroom overlooking Lake King.
“I focus on how good life is by looking at the water and watching the boats,” she said.
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