Clay Howard has had his Trak Racer gaming simulator installed at ARB Shepparton, where people can pay to play, with all funds going to support cancer services at GV Health. He is pictured with ARB Shepparton owner Simon Guthrie.
Photo by
Bree Harding
Clay Howard’s rig is racing towards purchasing an important piece of equipment to make local cancer patients’ experiences a little less uncomfortable, while they’re having chemotherapy.
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Mr Howard has cancer himself.
He is terminal.
But, a self-professed “man of God”, he believes he’s still alive years after being given only months to live, to help.
“You go into oncology, and there’s mainly old people in there, and they’re digging in trying to find veins; it’s distressing, particularly for people who are phobic about needles,” Mr Howard said.
“I said to one of the nurses, there’s got to be an easier way.”
The nurse told him there was a handheld medical tool that uses near-infrared light on the skin to locate veins beneath it, but it costs $50,000.
Mr Howard said someone had already donated $25,000 towards the purchase of the vein finder, but he has now set about raising the other half in a rather unique way.
His full Trak Racer TR160 race gaming set-up, worth $35,000, has been installed at ARB Shepparton for everyone to try for a donation to the cause.
The simulator is not just any old simulator, it’s the best of the best.
Photo by
Bree Harding
It’s not your typical bedroom set-up, rather, it’s a rig that simulates real-life racing as closely as possible.
“This machine, you can’t just go down to an arcade and use one, you’ve got to either buy it or pay big dollars at a show or something like that, it’s a bit chaotic,” Mr Howard said.
He was diagnosed with bladder cancer in December 2022, when he was 55.
After major surgery in December 2023 to remove his bladder, prostate and urethra prevented him from returning to work in Melbourne, he had to sell his house.
He moved to his niece’s home in Shepparton in March 2024.
Soon after, in April 2024, he’d been given the all clear from cancer, but when he was out on the bowling green a few months later, he got a headache, which snowballed into a doctor’s visit, emergency scans, a rushed trip to hospital where he discovered he’d need emergency brain surgery to remove tumours in his head.
“It turned out that the 100 per cent all clear wasn’t quite right because the bladder cancer had metastasised into my brain and gave me brain cancer,” Mr Howard said.
“So it was that severe that they gave me four months to live.”
Mr Howard, who lost his wife after a short battle with cervical and liver cancer five years earlier, said he’d faced many trials in his life and had learnt to be content with “a lot of stuff” or “content with nothing”.
He still lives in a bedroom at his niece’s, with not a great deal of space to properly accommodate his rig.
Just to watch YouTube he had to sit in it and was finding it too much of a struggle to get in and out of, so he’s glad it’s being used properly again by keen racers at ARB.
People can pay $25 for five minutes or $50 for 15 minutes to have a go, but if they’re any good, they’ll earn rewards worth much more in return.
Race times will be recorded and a top-10 leader board in store will show times to beat, while winners will share in prizes including a $1500 ARB gift voucher to whoever has the fastest time over a three-month period.
“Penrod Racing are going to give us a barrel set (a table and chairs made of 44-gallon and 60-litre drums and cushions) as second prize and then Black Duck seat covers are going to give us a $500 voucher as well,” ARB Shepparton owner Simon Guthrie said.
“This sort of thing accommodates people who can’t afford to go and buy a car or have the time to go; they can do it after work and they can race right around the world ... it’s just computerised.”
If funds raised surpass what’s needed to purchase the vein finder, they will go towards GV Health Foundation’s I Care for Cancer Care $5 million fundraising appeal.
“The staff at the Peter Copulos Wellness Centre have been magnificent,” Mr Howard said.
“I’m doing this because I have the opportunity to. I’m a man of very strong faith, so in my eyes, that’s what God wants me to do. I’m here for a reason.”
Despite his struggles, Mr Howard believes “you have to have fun along the way”.
“As long as I can put a smile on somebody else’s face, that’s good,” he said.
“And this is a great way. Everybody wants your money, so you’ve got to give them something worthwhile.
“This is a bit of fun in the fundraiser.”
The GV Health Foundation is calling on individuals, businesses and community groups to donate to its $5 million I Care for Cancer Care @ GV Health fundraising appeal to help bring first-class cancer care to the Goulburn Valley.
Donations can be made via the foundation’s website.
Community members interested in the various opportunities to contribute to and support the appeal can contact Amy De Paola via email at amy.depaola@gvhealth.org.au
