Personal Physician
All doctors around the Bay of Plenty area have been alerted to the Whanau Familial Gastric Gene. Your personal physician will refer you to the Kimihauora Coordinator, Pauline Harawira or if you know you are related by Whakapapa, you can contact Pauline directly.

Pauline Harawira - (Blood Test)
Pauline will register you and check your Whakapapa to see whether you are in the`at risk' category. Pauline will then give you a consent form to fill in and arrange for you to have a blood test which will then be sent to Dr Parry Guilford, Geneticist at Otago University.

Prof. Parry Guilford - (Gene Test)
Dr Guilford will then test your sample to see whether you are 'Gene Positive' or 'Gene Negative'. All results will be sent to Pauline or your Doctor.

Pauline Harawira - (Referral)
Pauline (or your Doctor) will relate to you your results 'Gene Negatives' will be referred to counseling and 'Gene Positives' will be referred to Dr Shaw, Gastroenterologist, Tauranga Hospital.

Dr Shaw - (Endoscopy)
Dr Shaw will then set up an appointment for you to have a Endoscopy. The Endoscopy will then show if you have the Familial Gastric Cancer or not. Dr Shaw will then recommend you come back at regular periods in order to monitor you. If Dr Shaw sees cancer cells or tumours he will refer you to Prof. Iain Martin - Gastric Surgeon, Middlemore Hospital, Auckland.

 

Since 1994 the kaupapa of the Kimihauora Health & Research Unit was to reduce the high incidence of Gastric Cancer within the Maori population. 1995 saw a pilot study of 105 volunteers made up of at-risk whanau who became involved in the collection of tissue samples and the establishment of the largest Gastric Cancer pedigree in the world.

The Pilot Study was a success and in 1997, the gene responsible for causing cancer was identified, three years before the given time.