By BLAKE METCALF-HOLT
AN all-conquering mission from Dr Prabodh Malhotra to walk from the MCG to the SCG has seen the 73-year-old retired academic pass through Gippsland, including a stop in Traralgon.
The inspiring trek is for the McGrath Foundation as an initiative to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research, with the target of $120,000 representing just short of the total distance he’ll walk, of 1300 kilometres.
For the third (and final) year running, Dr Malhotra’s aim is to visit all types of rural and suburban communities around Victoria and New South Wales along the journey.
The walk is projected to finish at the SCG on January 3, perfectly aligning with Day 1 of the Pink Test between Australia and India.
Dr Malhotra said the road from A to B changes each year.
“The whole idea is to raise awareness through rural country (in) Victoria but also rural New South Wales,” he said.
“I’ve been walking for quite a while, for many years I should say, but signing up with the McGrath Foundation has given it a purpose, it’s made it a mission.
“So, it’s not walking for fitness or just (to) lose weight or staying fit or getting your body into shape, it has a purpose, a higher purpose that adds to it.
“You’re doing this for the society because Australia has been a beautiful country and I’ve got a beautiful life here, so this is now my time to pay back and doing something for society.
“I’m very thankful to the McGrath Foundation that gave me the opportunity to make a small contribution to it.”
The first year took him north of Melbourne through Seymour to Shepparton through Wangaratta across the Murray River through Cooma, Canberra, Goulburn and Moss Vale, before arriving into Sydney with plenty more stops in between totalling 52 days.
Last year, Dr Malhotra switched things up by travelling from the ‘G to Sorrento across to Queenscliff and then Geelong to Ballarat to Bendigo, Echuca, Wagga Wagga and then connecting back with the previous track – again more towns he passed by bumping his journey up to 66 days.
This final walk takes him through an area in Gippsland he has familiarity with, having spent time on the Victorian railway before becoming a university teacher.
Always one to keep fit, Dr Malhotra remembered seeing a group of young people committing to a walk from Newcastle to the SCG (120 kilometres), raising $120,000 – he thought he could “raise the bar a bit.”
“So, I thought for a few weeks and I rang McGrath Foundation and said ‘yep, I’m on, that’s what I want to do’ and they were quite shocked because I was 71 (years-old), I mean those youngsters are in their 20s, most of them are NRL players or AFL, some of them are gold medallist swimmers, Olympic champions and so on, they’re super fit guys and girls,” he said.
Having spoken to the former Australian cricketer and founder of the breast cancer relief organisation, Glenn McGrath, Dr Malhotra hopes to still be involved with the McGrath Foundation.
“As I said to Glenn McGrath, he’s got 29 Test five-wicket hauls, this will do me (being my third time),” he said.
Dr Malhotra implores people to get tested at their local provider, whether you’re a woman or man.
“It’s pretty important to actually go to BreastScreen Victoria or where other places are across Melbourne or across all the regional areas, people should get themselves checked out,” he said.
“Until I signed up with (the) McGrath Foundation and attended the first get together, I had no idea that men could also get breast cancer, I was quite shocked when I first learned.
“I think there’s nothing to be embarrassed about, there’s nothing to worry about, I think that it’s worth getting checked out.
“If you’re diagnosed (in the) early stages, there’s a lot bigger chance that you will come through no problem at all.”
Dr Malhotra went on to praise the amazing work of the breast care nurses at the McGrath Foundation as well as the survivors he’s met along the way.
“A lot of people don’t realise a lot of (the) McGrath breast cancer nurses are former breast cancer patients themselves and that makes a big difference that the nurses know what the patients are going through because they have been there themselves,” he said
“At the moment, they have 124 nurses on the books, the idea is to push that number to 250 and the estimate is that once that number reaches 250, no one in Australia should go without the care they deserve.
“So, we’re trying to maximise help for the patients and the families we can.”
To donate to Dr Malhotra cause and help him reach his goal of $120,000, visit: pinkisthecolour.com.au/fundraisers/PrabodhMalhotra
