The DECEMBER Factor and a HUGE THANK YOU.

As December arrives with the festive season in full force, I always find myself feeling slightly nervous. This year I was very lucky to spend most of November on an amazing adventure to Peru (more of that later) and while away I found myself thinking less about melanoma. But it was back to reality last week with 2 appointments at Marsden HQ one to see the Dermatologist for my skin check up and the other on Friday to see my Oncologist. At my Friday appointment my Doctor reminded me that I had now been on the targeted drug treatment Debrafenib and Trametinib for 2 years and its good news that it continues to keep my melanoma under control. I did mention that I always feel a bit anxious when December rolls round as I had such horrible news in Dec 2016 and 2017 and I suppose its only natural that these memories rear their ugly head at this time of year. I also became quite obsessed last December with the fact that on average my treatment works for 12 months before the melanoma develops resistance. I have been repeatedly told that this is an average and for some patients it can work for years. I was also interested to know if I was still getting any benefit from the immunotherapy treatment I had or was it just the targeted treatment that was keeping my disease under control. I was told that is the million-dollar question and he didn’t know the answer. There were a number of patients who had both immunotherapy and targeted treatment and their disease was under control and that I should focus on the most important facts, which was that my melanoma is under control and I was feeling well.

Every 6 months I also have a skin check up with the Dermatologist Dr Fearfield and last week she noticed that the moles on my body have faded further and some of them completely disappeared. This is positive and shows the immune system response against the antigens shared by the normal cells in the melnomacytes and the melanoma. This could be caused by the targeted treatment that I am currently on or the immunotherapy treatment I had previously but it is generally seen as a good sign and will continue to be monitored.

Before leaving for Peru, I was at the hospital for my latest scan results, which were good, and also to present Professor Larkin with the big cheque for £50,000 to support the melanoma research projects at the Royal Marsden. This is a result of all of the shomelanoma fundraising efforts and I want to say a HUGE thank you to each and every one of you who have been instrumental in taking part and generously supporting all of the fundraising challenges. When I was hospitalised for 3 weeks in June 2017 for severe side effects from my immunotherapy treatment I had no idea what the future held but decided I wanted to give something back for the outstanding care I have and continue to receive by raising some funds for further melanoma research. There was no plan or target in mind but along the way so many people have contributed by organizing their own events, taking part in wild challenges, dancing for hours at the danceathon, laughed at the comedy night (or waxathon) and given so much to all of these efforts. David and I have enjoyed and had many laughs and a few tears (me not him) doing these challenges and have created many special memories along the way. I feel extremely fortunate to have such fantastic family and friends both near and far and your support has raised this incredible sum of money to support the research of my Oncologist Professor James Larkin and his wonderful melanoma team at the Royal Marsden who are doing a damn fine job keeping me alive. They have also involved me in the decisions of where the funds raised are allocated and are keeping me regularly updated on the immunotherapy research projects and the latest update of was included win my last blog. Whilst hugely impressive progress has been there are still too many patients dying from the disease and there is a long way to go which is why the fundraising to support melanoma research is so important and you will not be surprised to know we are already planning the 2020 challenges and David is already bracing himself.

Here are a few pictures from the latest fundraising efforts, which in mid October saw a big team running the Royal Parks Half Marathon and raising a lot of money. It was a wet muddy day but all of the magnificent eight runners Dave, Matt, Chris, Fraser, Jo, Tony, Christy, Ronan and Thomas did a fine job and raised over £7,000 towards the fundraising. Well done to all, David will be back for round 4 next year the under 2-hour target is there to be broken.

Last weekend the gorgeous Nicki Millward ran the Cayman Islands half marathon in very hot conditions in a speedy 1.57 so huge congratulations to her plus a big thank you to all her family and friends who have generously supported the fundraising efforts. Last Saturday we all got into the Xmas spirit when Liz, Johnny and Clem had an incredible joint birthday/anniversary party for and in lieu of presents had their lovely family and friends donate to the Shomelanoma fundraising. Their incredible generosity helped us reach an overall total over £57K, which is simply incredible.

In early November David and I went to see adventurer Ben Fogle on his tour Tales of the Wilderness at the local Wimbledon Theatre. I have followed Ben’s adventures for the last few years love his TV show “New Lives in the Wild” and his maverick adventurer approach to life. One thing he said in his talk really resonated, as I was about to head off on the latest adventure trip to Peru “Smile, Look up and Dream, Dare, Do”. I thought back to experiencing the horrid side effects when I started the current Dab/Tram treatment, spending New Year 17/18 in A &E fearing I would never again be well enough to leave the UK far less go on adventures to South America and I felt very grateful and fortunate to be well enough to go on the latest adventure and take some of Ben’s maverick adventure attitude with me.

Peru is such a diverse country; we started off in the crazy city of Lima, which made Bangkok look calm. We loved the arty district of Barranca where we stayed in a colonial guesthouse – Second Home of the renowned Peruvian artist Victor Delfin. We then moved onto Arequipa and the stunning sights of the Colca Canyon. From there it was onto staying with a Peruvian family in Lake Titicaca (the highest inland lake in the world at 4000m) on the island of Uros where the lodging was remote and built on an floating island made of reeds with solar power and a compost toilet. It was utterly stunning, had no wifi and felt lovely to be totally away from the craziness of modern life, chilling out on a boat, learning about the Peruvian way of life and watching my favourite blue-beaked duck of lake Titicaca. It was a long way from London. The last night we were reminded of the remote location when a fellow traveller developed a bad eye infection and had to cut short his stay and be taken for medical help. I then read in the Lonely Planet if you do get sick in Lake Titicaca don’t think twice about heading to La Paz which is the Bolivian capital as the medical care in Puno is poor. Fortunately I didn’t have any issues and was happy to move on to Cusco, Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley where we spent a week exploring, hiking in the mountains and staying at the fabulous Explora Hotel, which exceeded all expectations. Finally we had the last few days in Mancora in the north of Peru chilling out by the beach before the long journey back to reality. It was an incredible trip and I loved every minute. Here are a few pics.

With Xmas just over a week away I want to wish you all a happy festive period with all your family and friends and thank you once again for your amazing support. Here’s to a happy and healthy 2020 and to more Shomelanoma adventures … stay tuned.