In short:
Ipswich West MP Darren Zanow has been diagnosed with microvascular ischemic disease, more common in the elderly.
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli and Premier Steven Miles have shared well wishes to the MP and his family.
What’s next?
Mr Zanow will be stepping down at the October state election to focus on his young daughter, as doctors explore possible treatment options.
The state MP for Ipswich West has announced he has been diagnosed with an incurable brain disease and will step down at the October election.
Darren Zanow won the once safe Labor seat — west of Brisbane — for the LNP at a by-election in March after securing a double digit swing.
Mr Zanow said he was diagnosed with microvascular ischemic disease on the same day he was sworn in as the member for Ipswich West in April.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I am making this announcement to my community,” he said in a statement.
“This diagnosis means I will not be able to continue my work as the member for Ipswich West beyond the next election.
“It is not a decision I have made lightly, but the reality is I have been given no other choice.
“Serving this amazing community as an MP is one of the greatest honours of my life but, because of this disease, my time in public office — and likely my life — will be cut short.”
Mr Zanow said he had been pursuing treatment options with his doctor, but there was nothing available proven to slow the effects.
“Microvascular ischemic disease is more common in the elderly. The disease – observed via MRI and PET scans — reports changes in the brain, the build-up of a type of plaque that signals the early onset of dementia,” he said.
“Observed in a person of my age, it is likely to signal that a more rapid onset has begun, and subsequent medical tests have proven this to be true in my case.
“I must turn my attention immediately to the needs of my daughter Lola, who is aged 7, and to those of our wider family.”
Opposition Leader David Crisafulli said Mr Zanow’s “character and generosity of spirit” would be forever admired.
“Inside and outside parliament, Darren Zanow has fought all his life for the people of Ipswich, and now he enters a new fight of his own,” he said.
Premier Steven Miles said his thoughts were with Mr Zanow and his family.
“In these jobs we might be on different sides, but we’re all human, we all have families and so we just really wish him all the best,” he said.
“I haven’t had a lot to do with him but the interactions I have had with him, he is a genuine community leader from Ipswich.”
Mr Zanow was born and raised in Ipswich, and studied horticulture while working on his parent’s cattle and crop farms.
In 1991, he joined his family’s small earth moving business, which grew to become Zanow’s Concrete and Quarries, providing soil and quarry products to the region.
Mr Zanow was managing director of the company at the time he sold the business in 2022.
He is well known in the region as the president of the Ipswich Show Society and a board member of the Queensland Chamber of Agricultural Societies.
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