MANLY Vale funnyman Luke Escombe has spoken about his battle with Crohn’s disease at an emotional awareness lunch at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday.

The 33-year-old musician and comedian said the lunch, organised by Crohn’s & Colitis Australia, was an opportunity to speak honestly about living with the little known disease.

“It was quite powerful – I ended up having some MPs coming up to me in tears afterwards and telling me how moved they were with my speech,” he said.

“I was talking about 20 years of living with this illness, so it was powerful stuff. to speak honestly about it was a massive relief.” mr Escombe was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease when he was 14.

He’s had two major flare-ups which left him house-bound for years and even hospitalised him. he said the disease influenced his work and forced him to spend time in isolation. “if I have funny views it’s because my perspective that has been forced on me is that of an outsider,” he said.

His show, Chronic, performed at the Sydney Fringe Festival this year, incorporates aspects of living with the disease to create awareness. mr Escombe said he urged young people not to ignore the symptoms of the disease or suffer in silence.

“many people are diagnosed too late because they feel embarrassed or scared to go to their doctor,” he said. “once you accept the illness, you can learn to live with it and you can achieve amazing things.”

Mr Escombe will perform at Davefest at Mona Vale Hotel tonight. Entry is $15.

KNOW THE FACTS-More than 70,000 Australians have been diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the collective term for Crohn’s disease and colitis-The disease is more prevalent than MS, epilepsy and rheumatoid arthritis, but awareness is very low

Posted on April 17, 2011, Sunday

SANDAKAN: Public or private health centres should play their role in detecting and controlling any initial spread of malaria and tuberculosis.

“As they are a public health problem, early detection becomes a priority in treating the diseases,” said Libaran member of parliament Datuk Juslie Ajirol when officiating at the Sandakan-level World Tuberculosis Day and Malaria Day celebration at Taman Cahaya, Mile 12, yesterday.

He said statistics showed that each year around the world, nine million people were infected with TB virus while two million had died from contracting the disease.

Juslie said TB cases in Malaysia were usually detected late or on a serious level as people prefer to seek traditional treatment rather than the effective modern medicine.

He said general and private medical centres play a vital role as their efforts coincide with the theme “Mobile to prevent Tuberculosis … Transformation towards the Elimination” in which it is important to educate the community on the disease.

“It is sad to hear that there are still individuals seeking medical advice from a traditional medical practitioner over symptoms such as blood coughing, weight loss and loss of appetite.

“It is important for patients with the symptoms to undergo proper diagnosis and treatment,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said malaria is a disease caused by the “plasmodium” parasite that spreads through the bite of an infected Anopheles mosquito parasites (sporozoites).

“This disease can lead to complications such as liver and kidney dysfunctional and destroy red blood cells,” he said.

Juslie said malaria is a disease that can be prevented, treated and controlled with the increasing use of mosquito nets and other proven interventions as a part of the integrated community-based programmes.