Every 3 months when I turn up in my Oncologist’s office for my scan results in an anxious state of unrest, I am hoping he announces that my scan results are good and I pass go for the next 3 months. Fortunately my latest scans in mid July were good but I am all too aware how quickly my situation can change, my 3 month count down starts as soon as I leave his office. I realise how lucky I am still to be here living well with stage 4 melanoma 7.5 years on as many of my fellow melanoma patients are no longer here. This hit me hard recently as a fellow patient who had a fairly similar melanoma story to me and had been on the same drugs had progression of her disease, quickly became sick and ran out of treatment options and died. It shocked me how quickly this happened, I was really sad for her family and felt down. I have met some lovely fellow patients and we support each other on this melanoma rollercoaster. One of the sad things about being a stage 4 cancer patient is not everyone responds to the current treatments and why it’s so important to continue supporting the cancer research programmes and trials to find new treatments.
This weekend Team Shomelanoma is taking on the South Coast 100km Hiking Challenge. We will be starting the hike at 730am on Sat 7 September in Eastbourne and finishing on Sunday 8 September in Arundel. It promises to be a tough long slog and feels like it has come round very quickly. When the going gets tough I will be remembering some of my fellow melanoma patients and will feel fortunate that I am still well enough to be taking on these challenges. If you would like to support the team more details are here and we will be posting progress updates over the weekend. As always a huge thank you for all of your incredible support.
https://www.justgiving.com/page/shiona-ramage-1722285835665
A couple of months ago I was in Scotland visiting Mum when I received a phone call from BBC London to say that I had been shortlisted for a Make a Difference Award in the Fundraiser Category. The Fundraiser award recognises an individual or group of people who have gone the extra mile to raise funds for a good cause. I was so excited to hear that I had been shortlisted and of course this recognises the fantastic work and support of all of Team Shomelanoma everyone who has taken time to participate and support all of the fundraising challenges. A few weeks ago I met with BBC Radio London to record an interview about the Team Shomelanoma Fundraising for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity and also do some filming on a training hike. It was great to have my good friend Jen join for the filming and it was a beautiful day. My interview was aired on Radio London a couple of weeks ago on the Eddie Nestor Show and then I did a live interview. It was exciting to be on live radio and if you would like to listen to the interview its available on BBC Sounds go to 2hrs 42 and its available from then.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0jf6szp
The Make a Difference Awards are on 25 September at the BBC Radio Theatre at BBC Centre in London. Dave and my Mum will be joining me for the Awards and I will post an update and some photos on the next blog.
Back in May which was Melanoma Awareness Month we had a very exciting evening with Melanoma Focus and a fellow patient Ben Whitehouse who organised the lighting up of Tower 42 in the City of London with the Melanoma Focus Logo. He also hosted a drinks reception at his office so that we could see the Tower lit up and he spoke eloquently about his melanoma story. Dr Mark Harries who is a Medical Oncologist at Guys Hospital and the Chairman at Melanoma Focus Charity who spoke about the developments in melanoma treatments and the role of the charity. It was a fabulous evening and we also met a number of other patients, charity staff and medical professionals on a stunning spring evening. Later in the month thanks to the amazing team at BT we were able to organise lighting up the BT Tower with the Melanoma Focus logo. I was en route to the Take That Concert on May 30 and while at Euston Station I looked up to see the BT Tower lit up with the Melanoma Focus logo which was a fantastic sight.
The Team Shomelanoma Fundraising efforts have been boosted in the last few months by some incredible support from amazing friends and family. First my school friend Jacqueline Thompson ran the Edinburgh Marathon and did amazingly well receiving very generous support from her family and friends. In June my lovely friend Michelle de Klerk hosted a walk around Richmond Park with the Womens Chapter Members and they generously donated to the Team Shomelanoma Fundraising so huge thank you to all of them and it was really lovely to meet everyone. Last weekend the gorgeous Clem McQuoid turned 21 and rather than having birthday gifts she asked friends and family to donate to the Team Shomelanoma fundraising. This was a very special and kind gesture from Clem and her family and friends and is hugely appreciated. We had a wonderful time celebrating Clem’s birthday on Saturday evening and here are a few photos of the celebrations. The overall fundraising has now reached over £134k so a massive thank you again for all of your support.
Next month I will be visiting Professor Samra Turajilic at the Royal Marsden to get an update on the melanoma research projects that the Team Shomelanoma fundraising is contributing towards and I will provide an update on the next blog.
In the last couple of months David and I have been on the road round the country at weekends for training hikes, visiting family and we had a lovely week earlier in the spring visiting Royal Deeside which was just stunning. We stayed in Ballater near Balmoral and really lucked out with a good week of weather. I also met up with a fellow melanoma patient Willie Munro who took us hiking for the morning and it was fantastic to meet up with him and see the beauty of the Cairngorms and Royal Deeside.
As we go into the South Coast Challenge this weekend which will be very tough and we will need to dig deep, I will be remembering the fellow melanoma patients we have lost this year. Tune into the next blog for more Team Shomelanoma adventures and an update on the latest challenge.
Shomelanoma 