Cessnock man embarks on Borneo coast-to-coast trek for the Mark Hughes Foundation

The Cessnock man has joined a team of 37 people who flew out on Wednesday to Borneo for a grueling coast-to-coast trek all in the name of the Mark Hughes Foundation.

Mr Cameron said the team included people from all walks of life, including many Coalfields locals.

“There’s 36 trekking members including myself, my brother-in-law Jamy Forbes, Billy Peden, Mark Hughes, Paul Harragon, Steve Crowe, Brad Godden – there’s a lot of Newcastle and out of town members, business owners – NIB have a team going. It’s a really large cross section of people.

Mr Cameron said the trek would see the team ride between 130 to 140 kilometers through the rugged terrain of the Borneo forest before taking on the notorious Sandakan Death March route for 10 days, before climbing Mount Kinabalu to 4100 metres.

The group will then whitewater raft off the mountain, before heading home.

Mr Cameon said the Sandakan Death March route would hold special significance for the group.

“All this will be done in the footsteps of our POWs – we will pay our respects on the way,” he said.

“Reading a bit about what we’re going to be doing is quite horrific, the only survivors are the ones that escaped. I was very ignorant to what our POWs went through over there. The locals built the track as tough as they could to slow the Japanese down but it made it harder for us Aussies.

Considered to be the worst atrocity suffered by Australian servicemen during WWII, the Sandakan Death marches were a series of forced  marches from Sandakan to Ranau POW camps that resulted in the deaths of 2,345 allied soldiers. 

Out of all of the POWs incarcerated at both camps only six Australians survived after escaping.

Mr Cameron said that said that despite suffering a training injury that has required 20 visits to the chiropractor, he couldn’t wait to start the trek and get behind such a worthy cause as the Mark Hughes Foundation.

“I haven’t felt anything like the excitement, apart from my children being born,” he said.

“What Mark and the Foundation do for brain cancer in this country is just phenomenal.”

Mr Cameron added that he had very personal reasons for tackling the trek.

“I’ve seen my step-brother [Jamy Forbes] survive cancer, I’ve seen my mum survive cancer an my ex-partner’s mum died of a brain tumour,” he said. “So I’ve seen the adverse side of what cancer can do to families so I thought, ‘why not?’”

Jason has, so far, raised more than $4,500 for the cause thanks to generous donations from family and friends, his workmates at Myuna Colliery and sponsor Bob Brown. Cessnock business Mass Nutrition also came on board to help Mr Cameron with clothing supplements and training gear.

The team itself has raised $306,000 of its $500,000 goal.

For more information on the trek and to donate, visit https://borneocoasttocoast2018.everydayhero.com/au/borneo-coast-to-coast-2018.

To donate to Mr Cameron’s personal campaign, visit https://borneocoasttocoast2018.everydayhero.com/au/jason