JOHN Bowe has revealed that he has been diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The 66-year-old Supercars Hall of Famer, two-time Bathurst 1000 winner, 1995 Australian Touring Car Champion and two-time Gold Star winner made the announcement on his social media channels on Sunday night.
As part of his post, Bowe encouraged all men over 40 years of age to get regularly tested for signs of the disease.
“Time to shift the focus away from motorsport and talk men’s health again for a moment,” Bowe wrote.
“Remember a while ago I encouraged all men over 40 to get yearly check-ups regarding Prostate Cancer?
“Well guess what? I have been and have now been confirmed to have it.
“I feel fine and have no signs, but it’s there and I must do something about it!
“So don’t put it off just because you don’t feel any symptoms.
“I’m having my first treatment on Tuesday at the new Peter McCallum Cancer Clinic in North Melbourne. After that I’m not sure because there are several options.”
Bowe has long been an advocate of encouraging conversations around health; he was open and frank about his struggles with mental health and depression following the end of his full-time Supercars career in 2007.
In the years since, Bowe continued his racing career in the Touring Car Masters category, winning multiple championships and recently recording his 100th race victory in the category in the season-opener at Symmons Plains.
He currently leads the TCM standings and is hopeful to be on the grid for the series’ next round on the support card of the Repco Mount Panorama 500 at the end of the month.
“As our Touring Car Masters season continues at Bathurst in a few weeks time, I’m unsure of what effect it will have on that, but I’ll be racing at the Mountain come hell or high water!” he wrote.
“I’ve never been one to pass up an opportunity to drive at that amazing racetrack!”
Click HERE to read JB’s full Facebook post and leave a comment of support.
