The Lawrence family continues their campaign for Bowel Cancer Awareness Month

The month of June is known as Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and for the Lawrence family it's a cause close to home.

"In 2014 our mum Karen was diagnosed with stage four Bowel cancer when she was 39, basically after an emergency surgery," Keely told the Argus.

"It was a big deal, I was only 16, my sisters were 14 and 11, little brother 9, at those ages it was a shock for us."

For the family their mission is to ensure the public is educated on disease by breaking down the stigma surrounding it.

"She went undiagnosed for a few years, basically there seems to be a stigma around bowel cancer where you only get it when you're around fifty," Keely explained.

"A lot of the symptoms and critical signs she was showing, people didn't put two and two together with bowel cancer.

"They went on and on for a few years before eventually she had to go in for an emergency bowel resection, where she had a massive tumor.

"It was a bit crazy, now we're a bit older we want to raise awareness about it, especially for the younger people because it's not just an older persons disease anymore."

Three years ago, Keely's sister Brooklyn was inspired to start a fundraiser, conducting a bake sale at Pam Guyer Netball Courts with Keely's two sisters heavily involved in the sport.

That year they raised $2600 before COVID put a halt to 2020's outdoor fundraising effort.

The family used technology to their advantage, starting the Facebook page The Lawrence Kids supporting Bowel Cancer Awareness Month.

From that, they raised $2800.

They've continued to use the page to spread awareness.

"With June being Bowel Cancer Awareness Month we do fundraising throughout the whole month," Keely said.

"We spread awareness online by doing posts on statistics and videos.

"A lot of people don't know that Bowel cancer is Australia's second deadliest cancer so we do a lot of awareness about that."

Tomorrow, the family will be back on the ground fundraising at the Pam Guyer Netball courts in conjunction with Macleay Netball Association.

"This year we've had a lot of businesses bouncing back from COVID wanting to help out," Keely added.

The day will include a bake sale, hairspray and raffle with the latter drawn at 4 o'clock.

Plenty of raffle items are available with over twenty local businesses and families involved.

Prizes include:

All proceeds are directly donated to Bowel Cancer Australia.

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