By
LEUT Aaron Matzkows
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RAAF
Base Glenbrook CO Wing Commander Ken Roberts, Corporal Cameron
Lee, Corporal Lee-Ann Baker and Sergeant Jason Malkin with
a shirt signed by Glenbrook’s Relay for Life participants
that will be displayed in the base HQ.
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Photo
by LAC Darren Vella
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SERGEANT
Jason Malkin, of RAAF Base Glenbrook, would walk over hot coals
if it would help find a cure for cancer. He and more than a dozen
workmates from Glenbrook and Richmond went walking against cancer,
admittedly not over hot coals, but for 1107 laps of Penrith’s
Howell Oval.
It was the NSW Cancer Council’s Relay for Life fundraiser, in
which sponsored groups of friends and workmates took turns to
walk for 24 hours.
The Air Force team of SGT Malkin and his parents, GPCAPT Bill
and Gitta Malkin, FLGOFF David Kelly, Jess Sutherland, WOFF Kerry
Howard, SGT Christine Rogers, CPL Lee-Ann Baker, CPL Naomi Bayliss,
CPL Cameron Lee, LACW Julie Snell and LAC Dean Duraj, covered
442.8km – equivalent to just over 184 PFT runs.
The team had a support crew of Jason’s wife Jacqui, daughter Kayla,
Martin Cherry and FSGT Peter Dentrinos and his welfare committee.
The group raised almost $1000 for research into curing cancer.
What was it like walking all that distance?
“You didn’t think of the distance until your legs started to slow
down and even then you had someone with you most of the time,
so you were distracted from the amount of walking,” SGT Malkin
said. “It never really became boring, but it was exhausting.”
He has good reason to support the Cancer Council’s work. “I was
diagnosed with B Cell Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the right femur
in 1999. I was one of the lucky ones to survive,” he said. Through
his sickness, treatment and the ensuing after-effects, SGT Malkin
relied on his mates for strength.
“My mum cared for me during that time and I want to thank my family
and friends for all their support through my battle with cancer
and the aftermath of the treatment, for all they have done and
continue to do for me,” he said.
One in three people would be touched sometime in their lives by
cancer, either suffering a form of the disease or by knowing someone
who was, he said. “If I could do anything to help find a cure,
I would.”
