At the Memorial Hall in Moruya on Australia Day, Tralee Snape was called to the stage to accept the Citizen of the Year award.

Tralee then let the cat out of the bag, and, to huge cheers from the crowd, called on her astonished husband, Ron, to join her on stage.

The couple, from Central Tilba, received the award for their outstanding efforts to build a new oncology unit at Moruya District Hospital.

Ron said that when he and Tralee saw what the doctors, nurses and patients put up with in the outdated and cramped oncology unit at the hospital during Tralee’s 18 months of treatment stirred them into action.

“It was built 28 years ago and was being used at four times its maximum capacity,” Ron said.

“But when you get a chance at life, you would sit in a dairy shed to get it.”

At the end of Tralee’s treatment, they asked the staff what they could do to help.

“We thought they would ask for a television set, but they said a new ward.”

He said the Bay Post/Moruya Examiner gave the newly-formed Moruya Cancer Carers’ project the momentum it needed on the front pages with big headlines, and the committee was never at a loss on how to raise funds.

“It just rolled on and it became entirely community-run,” he said.

“Australia Day was a good day to reflect that this is what Aussies do best, and because of the community’s efforts the government came to the party.”

He also praised the efforts of former Eden-Monaro MP Dr Mike Kelly and the sitting Bega MP, Andrew Constance.

“Between them, the money was forthcoming – politics didn’t come into it,” he said.

The new oncology unit is now being fitted out and will open in conjunction with the new renal unit mid-year.