Wally Bak, LANSW committee member and liaison officer for Hunter Valley branch, recently had the opportunity to address 3rd year undergraduates at the School of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney. Events like these make a huge impact on the students as they hear first-hand from a cancer survivor, and more importantly a laryngectomee.
Dr Naisana Seyedasli, Academic and Cancer Researcher, Unit of Study coordinator, wrote to us to thank Wally and other guests who attended the day:
‘We had the pleasure of Mr Wally Bak, joining the special cancer consumer session of our Cancer unit of study for the 3rd year undergraduate students at the school of Medical Sciences, University of Sydney. During this session, the students heard firsthand from the cancer survivors, on the experience of the disease, the complex aftermath of the recovery process and how living as a survivor feels like. We are extremely grateful to our guests for their contributions to this session and for sharing their experience with the students. And most of all, for deciphering the hope for recovery from an otherwise complex disease.’
Wally is no stranger to this type of education day and is often invited to speak with student speech pathologists, theatre nurses and allied medical staff. The photo below is Wally with the ladies from Westmead Hospitals Speech Therapy department. Wally said: ‘I’ve been poked and probed by these lovely ladies overtime and I’m fortunate enough to be invited back to do patient education’
Students and medical staff can read text books and attend lectures, but seeing and speaking with a layrngectomee to get a first-hand perspective is invaluable.
We thank the Universities, hospitals and medical teams for inviting laryngectomees to these events and Wally Bak for sharing his experiences as a cancer survivor and laryngtectomee. Great work.