Laang loses great lady
Warrnambool Standard, Page: 7. Friday, 21 August 2009
It was a sad irony that in Joan Cockayne’s final weeks she benefited from her own tireless work supporting South West Healthcare’s palliative care unit.
Mrs Cockayne, 64, of Laang, lost her battle against pancreatic and liver cancer on Monday morning, but her fight was made a little more comfortable due to the equipment she helped buy.
The familiar face in the canteen of the Warrnambool branch of the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia events organised vintage engine rallies at her Laang property for the past seven years.
The April rallies, which feature everything from tractor pulls to ferret racing, raise money to ease suffering of those in their final weeks of terminal illness.
Her son Brian estimated the rallies had raised about $20,000 for the hospital and community-based service.
The Cockaynes started hosting the rallies in 2000 after Brian’s friend and fellow shooter, Tony O’Flaherty, lost his battle with cancer following weeks in palliative care.
In the lead-up to the 2007 event, Mrs Cockayne urged punters in The Standard to donate generously because, “by God, you don’t know what’s around the corner with your own family and friends”.
Mr Cockayne said his mother commented a few times that she was using the equipment that her work helped buy.
He said she was looking forward to feeding the masses at the World Sporting Clay Shooting Championships at Laang this November.
“That was going to be her big thing, running the canteen and trying to feed over a thousand people,” Mr Cockayne said yesterday.
South West Healthcare regional nurse consultant Bev King said Mrs Cockayne’s efforts had helped pay for things like portable oxygen concentrators and hospital beds that could be used in the home.
“We were able to provide the service for Joan thanks to people like her,” she said.
Mrs Cockayne is survived by her husband Keith, and children Brian, Ian and Sharon.
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