Hi there,

 

I have decided to make a difference by creating my very own fundraising page for Melanoma March. Through here you can easily support my efforts by making a secure donation. All funds raised will go towards Melanoma Institute Australia’s life-saving research. I would also really appreciate it if you could share my page or comment so more people know about it.  

My family was personally affected by Melanoma when I was diagnosed in February 2019. I remember getting the call from my doctors office, saying you need to come in ASAP. I was at school at the time and had to push through the rest of the day with my students knowing that when the doctor rings you to come in ASAP, that is never good news. 

I was diagnosed with Melanoma and my doctor, Ben Ireland checked my scalp again and said it had changed dramatically in the few days since he had biopsied it and that I needed to move fast. 

He rang a private surgeon whilst I was there with him and read out my stats and results. Dr Zwart was the surgeon and he agreed he needed to see me straight away. That lead to a whirl wind of tests and scans both here in Cairns and Townsville and I was booked in within the week to have it removed. They couldn't just remove and stitch back together. I had to have a skin graft attached to my head, however as the Melanoma had moved to the membrane on my skull they couldn't graft directly on to it as there was nothing for it to graft to. Doctors are incredible and they decided to do a skin flap from the side of my head and fold it up and then graft onto the side of my head where the flap had come from. They had to dig around in my neck as well to test my lymph nodes to determine if and how far it had spread. 

I looked like Frankenstein's bride for a little while however Dr Zwart was fantastic in repairing the graft over a serious of 5 more surgeries so that it didn't look like a patch work quilt on my head. Now I still have a small portion of the graft however it can be mostly hidden by my hair. 

Dr Zwart and Dr Ireland also helped to find an oncologist who was doing some fabulous work with medical trials. Dr Lyle was that doctor and she then started me on my journey of immunotherapy. This was a session in the Liz Plummer Centre every 3 weeks for at least 4 hours for 12 months. She was part of a trial that was helping to show that early access to Keytruda (medication) would mean less chance of recurrence happening. At this stage pre trial I had been told that it wasn't a matter of if but when it would return and it was a high chance it would be in my organs as opposed to being just a skin cancer. The medical trial was recently in the news sharing the fantastic results it is showing, which is AMAZING!

I've now 'graduated' to only seeing her every 6 months and soon I will be having my last CT scan as part of the trial. She will continue to monitor me for 10 more years.  

I can not be more grateful to the medical teams that helped me through this journey. The doctors, nurses, support workers are all amazing! I'm on the other side now and healthy and recovered but it is always there in the back of mind. 

My family and friends were my biggest champions and I am so grateful to them as well for supporting me through this time as well. 

I am one of the lucky ones and I will march every year to raise as much money as I can for this incredible cause. The doctors and research saved me so let's dig deep and help someone else! 

 

Click 'Donate Now' to make a secure online donation. 

 

Thanks so much for your support!