The week before the Shomelanoma team set off for the latest mountain challenge I was back at Marsden HQ for the latest scan results. It feels like the time between scans passes so quickly as I try to cram as much as possible when feeling well knowing that everything could change at the next consultation. Fortunately the latest scans were good and the Dab/Tram continues to work 19 months on from when I started the latest treatment so I am feeling very thankful.

Managing anxiety before scans is never easy but I have found that it helps to be away from London the weekend before getting results as I am occupied and thinking about other things. Dave and I were in the Peak District the weekend before the latest scan results as I was celebrating my birthday whilst getting in some last minute training on Kinder Scout for the Welsh 3000’s. After getting my scan results and telling my Oncologist about the latest madcap mountain challenge we had the green light to set to off for the Welsh mountains.

We have a wonderful group of special friends who have accompanied us on these challenges and this year was no exception. Tony and Sam, Phil, Colin and of course the rock star husband Dave all took precious time away to train with us, spending the last few months walking up and down hills across the UK from the Brecon Beacons to Cornwall and the Malvern Hills to Scotland. There have been many amusing moments and lots of banter on the walks that keeps us all entertained and I always looking forward to our precious time spent together

After last year’s extreme heat on the Jurassic Coast 100km, this year the Welsh mountains had the opposite weather in store for us. An idyllic summers eve in the beautiful coastal town of Conwy in a lovely pub on the north Welsh coast was a false dawn as the next morning the gales and rain had set in as we arrived at the hostel for the safety briefing before setting off to start the Welsh 3000’s. A message from our guide the day before telling us to have enough clothing to get soaked for 3 days was the warning that the weather gods were not going to be on our side.

What followed was 3 days of extreme weather high gales and driving rain, which made the steep terrain difficult to navigate, and the ground underfoot slippy. Over the whole 3 days there were hardly any breaks in the relentless wind and rain and it is safe to say that you often had to question is this really July in the UK. This was an extreme challenge and a big step up from the 3 Peaks that we had completed 4 years ago. With the exception of summit night on Kilimanjaro this was the toughest challenge yet. We all had moments over the 3 days thinking (what the fXXX are we doing this for and get me to a dry pub ASAP). There were no comfy beds to go back to in the evening and the boy’s dorm with 10 bunks and low ceilings reminded me of travelling in my 20’s and not in a good way. We were all longing for the comfy bed of the pub in Conwy. We weren’t allowed up two of the peaks: Tryfan and Crib Goch due to the dangerous windy conditions. All of the team were amazing and showed real determination to complete the challenge. The Charity Challenge guides were the right mix of encouragement in difficult conditions and also keeping us safe. The final day was a real struggle for me as I was full of the cold, tired, wet and after 3 days I had had enough BUT the gang were great at keeping me going, my smile had pretty much deserted me by this stage and it was just blissful to arrive at the bottom of Snowdon, have an ice cream and get changed into dry clothes before heading back home. As I reflect back on the weekend now I feel super proud of all of the team there was never any doubt of anyone giving up, we have raised more valuable funds for the wonderful melanoma team at the Royal Marsden who are doing a fine job keeping me well enough to undertake these challenges. In addition, I didn’t think of melanoma once over the whole weekend, as I was too busy worrying about not falling flat on my face. It was a privilege to undertake the challenge with all of the team and big thank you also to the Charity Challenge guides looking after us so well Andy, Rich, George and Fiona were all fantastic as was Sarah with all the lovely food.

Now that the team are home, rested and recovered I have been feeling a bit sad that its all over (you may think this sounds strange but I can assure you that Dave is over the moon that its over!) but there is such a build up and focus goes into these challenges that when they are over you naturally start thinking about what’s next and hoping that I will be well enough to continue undertaking these challenges. They really do help keep me motivated and having a goal to work towards helps me to stay fit plus I can honestly say that it’s as much about the mental side as they help to keep my head clear and I love being out in the mountains.

Of course a massive thank you has to go to everyone whose generous donations have supported the latest challenge. We have now raised over £46k in a little over two years, which is almost beyond my comprehension and for everybody that has donated, taken part and/or organized an event, thank you from the bottom of my heart. It really does inspire and motivate me to do more in the future. We will be receiving a full update on the melanoma research project that the money raised is supporting and I will provide a full update in the next blog.

The last couple of weeks have seen some of our lovely Hong Kong friends passing through London and it has been great to catch up with them. The summer is passing quickly and after spending so many weekends away from London to climb mountains it is nice to spend some time at home. As you head out to enjoy the summer sun remember to slap on the factor 50, cover up, stay out of the sun between 11 and 3 and check your skin regularly and watch out for the ABCDE rules

https://www.melanomauk.org.uk/signs-and-symptoms

You may remember Alfie Ranstead who earlier in the summer did a 50km bike ride to raise funds for the melanoma research at RMH. He also created this fabulous video to help raise awareness about melanoma and how to prevent it. It has been shown to all of the pupils at his school and only takes a couple of minutes to watch. Well done Alfie you are a superstar. https://youtu.be/LpD99yihrNw ,

Thanks as always for all your support and tune in for more shomelanoma adventures next month.

I woke up at 3 am one night last week and the first thought that came to my mind was Mountains, Milestones and then I remembered the dreaded Melanoma. I did think right with the upcoming Welsh 3000’s mountain challenge what a perfect title for the next blog, so I wrote it down and went back to sleep. As my 3 year cancerversary passed on June 15, I have been reflecting on how life has changed over the last 3 years but also feeling very fortunate still to be here.

I have been on a 6-week break from the hospital, which has been totally blissful, of course I love the medical team at Marsden HQ but not having to visit the hospital has been good for the mind and soul. I also count myself very fortunate to have been well enough to travel to some amazing places over the last few weeks. I find that getting away from London even for a short period clears the mind and helps me to forget about melanoma for a while which is only a good thing. In the last month I have been lucky to go back to New York, spend a few days in Fife with the parentals, climb hills in the Brecon Beacons and am just back from a week in my happy place Cornwall (more of that later).

Summer has fully arrived in the UK and its very much a case of sun’s out guns out (well those of you watching Love Island know that anyway). I have recently returned to the local gym to up my fitness levels for the upcoming mountain challenge. A couple of weeks ago, I overheard a discussion amongst the girls about wanting a tan now its summer and one of them mentioned going on a sunbed. Another girl then tried to dissuade her saying its much safer to have a fake tan and relayed a story about a friend who had died of melanoma. I honestly can’t believe how many young people still use sunbeds in the UK and are not fully aware of the killer machines that they are. Melanoma UK has been trying to get these banned as they are in Brazil and Australia

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/237086

Whilst in Cornwall beach season was kicking off, temperatures rising and the Brits were at the beach crisping themselves to a shade of beetroot. This did make me realize just how much awareness still need to be done to educate people in protecting their skin. You don’t have to burn to get a melanoma and there’s nothing healthy about a tan. I recommend you fake it and if you are looking for a good fake tan I can recommend Vita Liberata Body Blur that is idiot proof to apply covers up scars and gives a light colour https://www.boots.com/vita-liberata-body-blur-instant-skin-finish-100ml-10208481 . But most importantly stay safe in the sun wear factor 50, cover up and stay out of the sun between 11 and 3.

The next big challenge coming up in 2 weeks is the Welsh 3000’s . As many of you already know, I love being in the mountains and after having back surgery 5 years ago, my surgeon told me no more long distance running, I replaced it with hiking up mountains. Since my melanoma diagnosis, I have loved being in the mountains even more. I find it focuses the mind, I forget about melanoma and it helps keep me fit. It also provides me with a goal and as someone who is generally positive and motivated I love to have a challenge.

Every year for the past 5 years we have done a mountain challenge and this year is no exception. From the Three Peaks to Kilimanjaro this year it is the Welsh 3000’s. This is a HUGE challenge especially for me currently on treatment and involves climbing the 15 Welsh peaks over 3000 feet in one weekend involving steep ascents and descents of over 4000 m in one weekend. The challenge is rated as extreme and I am starting to feel nervous at the prospect of what’s in store. Dave and I are doing the challenge with the fantastic Tony, Sam, Phil and Colin who have undertaken many of the previous challenges and we will be raising funds for melanoma research at the Royal Marsden where I continue to be treated for stage 4 melanoma.

Full details of the challenge are here and if you would like to support the team it would be hugely appreciated and there will be a full update on the next blog.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shomelanoma-welsh3000s

Earlier this week David and I attended a patient evening at the Royal Marsden, which was discussing “Pioneering Treatment: What does the future hold for Melanoma and Urological Cancers? “ which was a very informative evening and covered topics from the current landscape for melanoma and kidney cancer treatment to advances in the precision of radiotherapy to the impact on patient quality of life of new melanoma treatments and the evolution of cancer where Dr Samra Turajilic describes how cancer evolves to resist treatment and how we need to understand how different cancer cells in a tumour change and how to adapt to improve patient outcomes. This is a hugely complex subject and the fact that everyone’s cancer is different makes it even more challenging. It was a very enjoyable evening and was lovely to see some of the other patients who are treated at the Marsden. I even had a couple of them come up and introduce themselves as they recognized me from reading this blog, which was lovely. There was also a patient in attendance from the original clinical trial, for the drugs I am currently taking, whose melanoma has been successfully controlled for the last five years.

A couple of weeks ago, there was a very informative programme on BBC4, following George McGavin “A Year to save my Life” and followed the entomologist and TV presenter through his treatment for malignant melanoma on his heel. Given his scientific background, he was intrigued at understanding more about melanoma and how it evolves. The programme also highlighted a very real benefit and development that was not available to patients like myself just 2½ years ago. George’s melanoma had spread to his lymph nodes in his groin (classified as Stage 3) and rather than have surgery to remove his lymph nodes, he was able to have adjuvant treatment and took dab/tram (my current medication) to treat his melanoma. In George’s case, this successfully treated the melanoma and prevented intrusive surgery. Previously the only option for patients at Stage 3 was surgery and thereafter to “watch and wait”. For patients, this is a huge step forward in that they now feel that the disease is being proactively treated. If you would like to watch, here is the link :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000696j/a-year-to-save-my-life-george-mcgavin-and-melanoma

The latest superstar Shomelanoma fundraising efforts for melanoma research at the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity come from from Alfie Ranstead, and Jacqueline Varty. Alfie Ranstead (14) cycled 50 km along the Ridgeway in Wiltshire. He had never cycled that far before and successfully completed his challenge cycling with his 2 brothers Tom and Will in 3.5 hours. Also in cycling mode young Will Baldock (6) recently completed a hilly 10 km cycle in St Albans. He had plenty of snacks, his Dad cycling with him and a big cake awaiting him at the finish to keep him motivated. Finally my school friend Jacqueline Varty completed the Edinburgh half marathon last weekend and also did a PB. Massive congratulations and thank you to all of you.

The latest fundraising efforts have sent the total Shomelanoma fundraising efforts to close to £42k in 2 years and are helping fund further melanoma research to help keep cancer patients like me alive . We have now set the target at £50k and are hoping to reach that milestone by the end of the year.

Finally here are a few photos from the recent travels. I really loved returning to New York a city I used to visit frequently with work but since the melanoma rollercoaster I hadn’t been back. It was lovely to be there as a tourist and stay in lower Manhattan to explore the city that is up there as one of my favourite cities in the world. We were also very fortunate to have fabulous weather for our week in Cornwall, this really is my happy place as my Grandfathers family comes from Sennen Cove/St Just I have this feeling of being at home when I go there. I love the area around the Lizard and it’s really hard to believe you are in the UK. We had a wonderful week there and I was sad to return to London but my 6 weeks of no visits to the Marsden had come to an end and it was time to return to Chelsea to see Professor Larkin and the team.

Stay tuned for the next installment and full details of the latest mountain challenge when the Shomelanoma team tackles the Welsh 3000’s.

Two years ago on March 31 2017, I received the news from my Oncologist that my melanoma had spread to my brain. Two years on, I am hugely thankful to still be here and very much living life to the full. My latest scans show that my melanoma is stable (good news for any stage 4 cancer patient) and my current targeted treatment Debrafenib/Trametinib which I take in tablet format twice daily 12 hours apart continues to work 16 months on. I am hugely grateful to all of the amazing melanoma team at the Royal Marsden Hospital led by my Oncologist Professor James Larkin who continue to look after me so well.

For the past couple of months I have had the feeling, I am living on borrowed time, which is probably hard to relate to if you don’t have an incurable disease but fellow stage 4 cancer patients will resonate with this feeling. In the run up to the January scans, I became a bit obsessed with the fact the current treatment I am receiving works on average for 10 to 12 months and I have now exceeded that which is good news. My Oncologist reminds me that for some patients it can work for years and often patients have treatments in a different sequence. For the latest scans I felt much calmer until the morning of the results when I always feel nervous and it was a huge relief to hear everything was stable. For now I am continuing the kick ass enjoy every day mantra and getting on with my life as I know how quickly the situation could change.

It’s been an exciting month and one of the highlights was when David and I were invited to visit the Francis Crick Institute (https://www.crick.ac.uk/) to have a tour and see where some of the research that the fundraising we have been doing is taking place. The Crick is a biomedical research institute who works to understand why disease develops and to find new ways to prevent, diagnose and treat a range of illnesses including cancer, heart disease, stroke, infection and neurogenerative disease. There are over 1200 scientists working there and the building is amazing.

Dr Lewis Au, Clinical Fellow for the Royal Marsden who is part of Professor Larkin’s team gave us a tour of the Crick and what an impressive building it is. As it is open plan the premise is very much on the collaboration between all of the scientists working there. The current research is looking to understand immune related toxicities by multifaceted profiling. We were taken to the wet lab where the scientists are examining specific tissue samples of tumours. We met one of the scientists on the team Alan (also Scottish) who showed us samples taken of a large tumour found in the kidney. He mentioned that previously they would take one biopsy from the tumour but in this example, the tumour was sliced into four sections with up to 20 samples taken from each section, e.g. 80 Nr samples in total. They are then doing specific genomic and immune profiling of the patient and the tumour which takes place in the dry lab where the analysis takes place. The goal of the research is to better understand how tumours develop as they metastasize (spread) around the body. In the context of immunotherapy, they hope to develop a panel of biomarkers to identify patients at risk of immunotherapy toxicity and develop supplementary/complimentary treatments for prevention and treatment of toxicity. As a patient who has experienced severe toxicity to my liver when I had immunotherapy this research is particularly personal to me. The whole experience was really quite fascinating and made me question if I had gone into the correct career. We loved it and it was the highlight of my month and a big thank you to Dr Lewis Au for hosting us his scientist colleague Alan who was explaining everything to us and it was lovely to see Dr Samra Turajlic too.

My 2 year anniversary with no booze is on April 10. I can hardly believe it and am often asked if I miss it. The honest answer is no with the exception of the occasional summer night out when it’s warm and a glass of rose is tempting. I know I was probably drinking too much before my stage 4 melanoma diagnosis and from a health perspective I definitely feel better. I am now the one at the party watching everyone else when they have had one too many knowing all too well I have been there many a time. I can still party with the best of them and I now remember the repeated nonsense that everyone else talks at 1am but for now I am happy with my clear alcohol free head and trying out the latest alcohol free cocktails on a night out.

As well as monthly appointments with the Oncology team I also have check ups with the Dermatologist every 6 months. Last week my check up proved quite interesting. As I have mentioned before, I have developed 2 vitiligo patches on my face and this is a known side effect of my melanoma treatment. The Dermatologist has also noticed that some of the moles on my body have disappeared and some have become de-pigmented and lighter. The immunotherapy or the targeted treatment could have caused this and it shows the immune system response against antigens shared by the normal melanocytes and melanoma cells. I was also sent for follow up photographs so that this can be compared against the photos from 2 years ago when I started treatment and also moving forward.

The Shomelanoma team has started training for the next big challenge The Welsh 3000s which is coming up at the end of July. It looks TOUGH 15 mountains over 3000 feet in just over 48 hours with some scrambling…….. After the first training walk last week of 20km and the sore legs the next day there is a long way to go. More to come ………

We also have a big team signed up for the Royal Parks half marathon in October. This is the one Dave is attempting to run in under 2 hours. His park run training is commencing soon plus mentor guidance from his cousin Matt who will also be running. If you would like to join us please let me know we’ll be having a party after this one!

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/shomelanoma

As always thanks again for all your wonderful support, as we move into the warmer weather please take care to protect your skin slap on the factor 50 even when its cloudy and check your skin for any changes in moles and go to see the GP. Better to be safe than sorry. Melanoma is a nasty disease and even although there have been huge advances in treatment there are still 7 people losing their lives every day in the UK alone. May is melanoma awareness month so more to come next month.

After David’s blog last month looking at the Partner’s view of living with cancer it’s back to me this month. I’ve been feeling pretty good lately and found myself feeling more confident that my Xmas Pressie from Dave may become reality – Dream, Dare, Do – An adventure of a lifetime to Argentina where I had always wanted to visit.

After experiencing a number of fevers (one of the main side effects of the drugs I am on) earlier in the year, I felt unsure I would be comfortable leaving the security of the UK with Marsden HQ on speed dial 20 mins away from our home. After going to the Alps in the summer, Sardinia in September I started to feel more comfortable about overseas trips and the big adventure may become reality. First there was the hurdle of the regular scans to overcome. My oncologist had tentatively said that he was ok for me to travel … subject to my next scans.

I went through my usual routine over the weekend before getting scan results and tried to keep scanxiety at bay. On our way to Chelsea on the Monday, I began to feel sick and my heart was pounding like going to sit an A level exam. The wait before the appointment felt excruciatingly long and I must have visited the loo about 3 times in less than half an hour. I am also conscious of the fact that the drugs that I am on work to control melanoma for an average of 10 to 12 months and I am approaching that timeframe. My Oncologist has told me to try not to worry and remember that it is an average, every patient is different. Finally my name was called and Professor Larkin told me the scans were all good and I could go to Argentina. It was a huge relief and I left the hospital feeling very excited.

However, the excitement didn’t last long as 24 hours later I began to feel sick and felt a fever was coming on. This came as a bit of a shock to the system as I hadn’t experienced one since March and it was so soon after receiving the good news from my scans.  As you know living with stage 4 melanoma is anything but predictable. Just 2 days later my temperature was 39 degrees and I was back at the hospital feeling awful. Blood tests revealed that I had caught a virus, which was probably compounded by my medication and I was told to prepare for a stormy 48 hours and it was time to rest and do nothing. After 3 days of rest as if by magic I started to feel human again. After a return visit to Marsden HQ a few days later to recheck my bloods the inflammatory markers had returned to normal which was a huge relief. The experience was a huge reminder on how quickly things can change.

Over the last couple of months I have also developed some small vitiligo patches on my cheeks. I am more conscious of these than others. I also had my regular check up with my dermatologist, which enabled me to discuss these with her. Interestingly, I have also developed slight vitiligo rings around a couple of moles on my back. It has been explained that these are generally viewed (albeit not conclusive) as a positive in terms of melanoma control and may be a sign that my immunotherapy treatment is still having a positive impact on melanoma control

Dealing with the mental side of melanoma is as much of a challenge as the physical side. There is no one size fits all solution and even although I am pretty strong mentally and have learned to live in the present, you just never know when a bout of anxiety or worry is going to hit you. I have my coping mechanisms and as I have written in the past one of the best solutions I have found of keeping myself calm and switching the mind off the melanoma worry has been yoga and pilates. I have become an avid yoga fan practicing at least twice a week at the gorgeous Samsara studios in SW London. I was also lucky to recently take the yoga a step further and head off on my first yoga holiday to Majorca with my gorgeous friend Jen. This was a different somewhat calmer affair than previous girly trips with good friends Liz and Jen. Up at 7, yoga practice at 8 watching the sun come up over the beach for 2 hours it was quite blissful and very relaxing. I completely forgot about the melanoma and focused on trying to improve my vinyasa flows and poses. It was lovely to spend quality time with Jen catching up on gossip in such a relaxing environment and I came home after 4 days feeling in a relaxed state of zen.

Now whilst yoga can’t cure my cancer anything that helps improve my mental well-being is good in my book. I know that some of the cancer charities Macmillan, Maggies also provide counseling and many patients find this very helpful, I certainly haven’t ruled this out but I haven’t felt the need in my current state of mind.

During the last month I was fortunate to be asked by the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity to join them for a visit to speak to the staff of one of their major corporate supporters Ralph Lauren. Every year, during the month of October Ralph Lauren run their “Pink Pony “campaign which is their corporate wide initiative in the fight against cancer. The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity is the UK benefactor with Ralph Lauren organizing a number of fundraising activities throughout the year to engage their staff and customers. I spoke on behalf of the charity to thank Ralph Lauren and also share my patient story and my experience of the Marsden and their teams. It was a hugely positive day and I really loved being part of it and it was really lovely to see how engaged and passionate the Ralph Lauren staff are about supporting the wonderful work of the Royal Marsden Charity. I also received a lovely framed letter from the Head of the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity thanking everyone involved in the Shomelanoma fundraising, which was hugely appreciated.

On our 13^th wedding anniversary (14 October) David and his good friend Fraser took part in the latest Shomelanoma fundraising activity Royal Parks Half Marathon. It was pouring with rain as they set off through the beautiful Royal Parks a far cry from the gorgeous sunny day of last year but they both did a fabulous job and arriving over the finish line completely soaked but 10 minutes quicker than last year to run in 2hrs 18. The challenge is now on to run under 2hrs for 2019. Well done to them both and thank you to everyone who has supported them.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shomelanomarphm2018

Next up north of the border my gorgeous cousin and his wife Iain and Siobhan Ramage are taking things to another level with the sponsored waxathon and fundraising evening. We have just heard that the activities have raised £2000 which is amazing and there will follow a full report in the next blog along with future fundraising plans for 2019.

As the nights close in and weather turns wintery please remember to do your monthly skin check and if you see any changes in your moles see your GP. Don’t join the statistics 7 people die of melanoma in the UK every day and once it spreads its very difficult to control. UV rays from sunbeds have been shown to contribute to rising cases of melanoma and we want them banned in the UK as they already are in Brazil and Australia. I have never used sunbeds but please help support Melanoma UK and sign and share the petition below.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223903

It’s been a glorious summer in London town made even better after the Shomelanoma team completed the Jurassic Coast 100km on one of the hottest weekends of the year over a tough course (you were so right Fred Edwards), which sent the fundraising spiraling over £30K. The Jurassic coast is truly stunning and we were sent on our way with a morning all from football manager Harry Redknapp who was queuing for breakfast at his local Sandbanks Café. The nudist beach at Studland provided further walking sights although unfortunately no David Beckham or David Gandy lookalikes that morning. It was a tough slog on a boiling hot weekend and due to blisters, vomiting and feeling delirious Colin, Tony and Phil  completed the full 100km with the rest of us finishing after 58km on day 1. Huge congratulations and thank you to all of the team Phil, David, Tony, Sam, Michelle and Colin, who took part, the support crew who were there smiling at the rest stops and everyone who has donated to all of the fundraising efforts it is massively appreciated.

Just 2 days after the big walk it was hiking boots off and heels on for the glamorous Women’s Chapter Travel and Fashion event in aid of the Royal Marsden hosted by my amazing friend Michelle de Klerk who had also completed the Jurassic Coast walk. Tamara Lohan founder of Mr and Mrs Smith shared her experience on setting up a business and her top travel destinations and Stylist Deborah Sheridan-Taylor showed a capsule wardrobe, which was gorgeous. I said a few words about my melanoma journey and the fabulous work of the melanoma team at the Marsden and it was a hugely enjoyable evening. Huge thank you to Michelle and the wonderful Women’s Chapter.

Over the summer, I have been trying to forget the melanoma, I still have the daily reminder with the numbness on the left of my mouth but in the grand scheme of things it’s minor and as long as it doesn’t affect my talking ability that’s fine. Following the Jurassic coast adventure, I set off for the French Alps with good friends Jen and Liz plus their kids. I was really excited about the trip as it felt good to be travelling out of the UK again (not something I had done since Corsica last year). I used to be going to an airport every other week with work but now I associate it with a special times and the fun of going on holiday.

The French Alps trip was action packed and it was fabulous spending quality time with my 2 gorgeous best friends and their children Clem, Felicity, Imogen and Cameron. We loved hiking in the mountains, swimming, laughing, eating, and had lots of fun; melanoma went straight to the back of my mind. I was sad to leave France and once back in the UK over the next few days I started to become aware of a more frequent abdominal pain on my left side. After a week or so, with the if in doubt get it checked out mantra, I contacted my nurse at Marsden HQ and she arranged for me to go for a review with the doctor. After examining me, having blood tests and seeing that I was anxious he agreed to move forward my CT body scan. I felt relieved as the next scans were not due for another 3 weeks and I hadn’t had a body scan since early April. Fortunately the wait was short and the scan results were clear and I felt massively relieved.

Dave and I escaped off to Scotland for the August bank holiday and luckily it coincided with the next big fundraising challenge – Kirsteen’s Great Scottish Swim in Loch Lomond. Now for those of you who don’t know Scotland – Loch Lomond is the largest stretch of inland water in the UK just north of Glasgow. Its beautiful but swimming there is not for the faint hearted as its cold, deep and choppy definitely no bikinis required even after a heatwave summer it was wetsuits all the way. After the sat nav eventually got us to the right location via central Glasgow (who knew that there were two places called Balloch in Scotland!?) we arrived to see superstar Kirsteen successfully completing her swim. She did an amazing job, look as cool as a cucumber and was still smiling through her exhaustion as she got out of the water. Kirsteen was fundraising for Melanoma research at the Royal Marsden and also for Pancreatic Cancer UK in memory of her lovely father. We all spent the afternoon enjoying the Scottish sunshine and catching up over lunch. Congratulations to Kirsteen, thanks for all your amazing support.

During the time in Scotland I was again able to put melanoma to the back of my head. However as soon as I returned to London the MRI brain scan at Marsden HQ was looming ahead. I had my brain scan last week and had the weekend scanxiety wait before the clinic appointment with Dr Larkin on Monday. I felt calm but as we all know going in for scan results is like a game of roulette you just never know how the results are going to land. Fortunately today was good and 9 months on from starting targeted therapy Debrafenib and Trametinib (Dab/Tram) it continues to work its magic and it is currently effectively controlling my melanoma. My tumour has reduced in size and is now stable. As I have said previously the challenge is on average the melanoma develops resistance to the drugs after about a year, which is why it’s vital to continue supporting new research and drug trials to continue developing new treatment options for melanoma patients.

There are some exciting plans coming up for the Shomelanoma fundraising. Next up is the Royal Parks Half Marathon on October 14, Dave, Fraser and Sarah are signed up for this and Dave has even started training. A curry night will be organised soon to support the fundraising efforts.

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/shomelanoma

A new challenge is taking place north of the border when my gorgeous cousin Iain is taking things to another level with a sponsored waxathon. Let me just leave this to your imagination, it’s taking place on Nov 10 and more details will be coming soon.

A final word on upcoming challenges, I dreamt last night I was swimming the channel, when I woke up I was paddling hard and not moving fast. This told me (as did David) that NO, this would not be the next challenge. As Jen said to me today, I think you should stick to hiking and cycling…

As the hottest summer on record in the UK comes to a close please continue to protect your and your kiddies skin, don’t get burnt, wear your factor 50 in the UK and overseas and stay out the midday sun. Check your moles every month and if in doubt of any changes see your GP. Don’t join the statistics 7 people die of melanoma in the UK every day and once it spreads its very difficult to control. Sunbeds have been shown to contribute to rising cases of melanoma and we want them banned in the UK as they already are in Brazil and Australia. Melanoma UK  is leading the charge so please help save lives by signing and share the petition below.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/223903

Stay tuned for the next installment of Shomelanoma, which will be a guest blog from my rockstar husband Dave.

Birthdays I love them, another year older and wiser (Mr H may disagree about that one !) or so they say. The aging part, I used to like less “it’s just a number right” but now I don’t care and every birthday is to be celebrated in style as another milestone when I am still very much alive here having fun making the most of life. It may have taken stage 4 melanoma to have me thinking like this but there’s got to be some positive to this awful disease. As for the wiser, well I have learned more about melanoma in the last month after being fortunate to attend the Melanoma Patients Conference on June 22/23 where a host of medical experts, patients, partners, charities and pharmaceutical companies shared the latest information on treatments available, patient support and care. The conference also offered the opportunity to meet up with other patients face to face and share experiences of life on the melanoma rollercoaster good and bad.

Some key developments from the conference included the introduction of adjuvant treatment (treatment given to help decrease the chance of cancer recurring) for stage 3 melanoma patients. This has already been approved in the US and should receive approval in the UK soon having shown positive results in trials. This will likely involve patients in less intrusive surgery once the melanoma has spread to the lymph nodes with a more localized approach to removal of the affected lymph node(s) followed by immunotherapy to try and clear any residual issues. For example, I had 20 lymph nodes removed under my left arm in February 2017 with the associated risk of developing the serious side effect of lymphedema. This is an exciting development for patients as just last year as a Stage 3 patient, the only option was to “watch and wait” to see if the melanoma came back, which is obviously difficult as a patient having only a reactive rather than proactive strategy to manage the disease.

I also particularly enjoyed the patient presentations from Dr Lauren Cara on de-mystifying the role of diet and its impact and Kay English Curtain on Understanding the Statistics. One of the biggest challenges in being a cancer patient is the loss of control on your life but diet and educating yourself to understand treatment options and statistics are two things you are most definitely in control of and personally help you better manage your disease, which feels good. By the end of the conference my brain was hurting and I felt a bit overwhelmed. I also had a worry on my mind as in the few days leading up to the conference I had felt as if the numbness in my mouth was spreading which was making me feel anxious.

After the conference, David and I headed down to Devon to meet good friends Jen and Paul for a lovely weekend of R and R just what was needed and I momentarily forgot my worries. Back in London, the following Monday we had a meeting with Dr Larkin to discuss the Team Shomelanoma fundraising for the Marsden melanoma research projects. I mentioned my concern about the numbness in my mouth and he agreed that we should bring forward my next scans and fortunately they had a slot the next day. I spent the next few days going through the usual scanxiety before the Monday morning appointment. Monday arrived with me convinced that I was to be told bad news but fortunately I was told that there was no evidence of further progression and my scan was fine. The difficulty with sensory nerve damage (which is where my tumour has affected part of my brain) is that it can create a strange numbness sensation. I felt relieved and so much more relaxed departing Marsden HQ.

The melanoma research meeting was really interesting and Dr Larkin highlighted two of the research efforts that the Team Shomelanoma fundraising can support. The first project is looking at immunotherapy toxicities to get a better understanding of why some patients experience such severe side effects from the treatment. This has personal relevance as many of you will recall I spent 3 weeks last summer at Marsden HQ due to developing autoimmune hepatitis as a result of the immunotherapy treatment. The goal of the research is to identify a panel of biomarkers that will identify patients at risk of immunotherapy toxicities. The second project is looking at circulating tumour DNA using blood based markers for cancer monitoring to predict the evolution of disease and response to treatment. These are both much-needed projects that will hopefully translate for patient benefits soon. As the research progresses, I will keep you updated. I have now been on my current treatment Dab/Tram for 7 months and, touch wood, it has been effective at controlling my melanoma. However the challenge is on average the melanoma develops resistance after about a year. It’s vital that medical research and trials are supported to continue developing new treatment options for melanoma patients.

On a very sad note, a fellow Royal Mardsen melanoma patient and YouTube vlogger, Emily Hayward sadly passed away last month, aged 24. I never met Emily but became aware of her when she featured in a Channel 4 Stand Up to Cancer documentary last October. She regularly uploaded her vlogs onto her YouTube channel and had in excess of 50,000 subscribers across the world. She wanted to share her journey in the hope that more people would become aware of the seriousness of melanoma but more importantly to remind everyone that you can still live life to the max even whilst living with cancer. It shouldn’t take cancer to make people realize this but we only have one life, so please live it well. RIP Emily and thank you for sharing your courage and positivity with us all.

This weekend we will be undertaking the next MAJOR Shomelanoma challenge of the Jurassic Coast 100km. There have been a few injuries along the way but the team is fighting fit and ready to go on Saturday morning at 8.30am from Poole. David who has already successfully completed the 100km on the South Downs 9 years ago has been sharing the photo this week and it has been noted he has not aged much since then! However lets see how the bodies are feeling on Sunday when we eventually complete the 100km walk they may be feeling and looking their age at that point. The excitement is mounting, we are looking at a hot weekend and we will post updates on Facebook and look out for the Team Shomelanoma photos. Huge thanks to Michelle, Colin, Phil, Tony, Sam and of course my rockstar husband who is back doing this challenge for the 2^nd time because he has forgotten how painful it was the first time. !!! In all honesty we have loved the training walks (thank you Phil for organizing) and the girly chats around Richmond Park with Michelle and with Jen in the Chilterns.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shomelanoma-jurassiccoast

Huge thank you to everyone who has supported us in the latest challenge and all other events to date. It really does help to keep me focused and motivated to do more. We are tantalizing close to cumulatively hitting £30K raised in the last 12 months and we would love to see the magic number hit this weekend!

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/shomelanoma

A final word on this year’s birthday I had a lovely birthday week, it kicked off with a family wedding in Wilmslow and an England world cup win in the local pub (don’t tell the Scottish family!!) I spent a gorgeous birthday hiking on the South Downs with a pub lunch followed by dinner at the favourite seafood restaurant Wright Bros that has a new outpost near Battersea Power Station and the best Oysters in town. On Saturday I had a bonus treat of the Nadal vs. Djokovic match, which was amazing, followed by the ladies tennis final. I was also lucky to catch up with some of the gorgeous girls squad including Ms Majorca 312 Melissa Tarver It has been lots of fun another year older and wiser don’t forget the motto – don’t sweat the small stuff and enjoy every day!

If you would like to support Team Shomelanoma fundraising organise a curry eve, bake sale, pub quiz or sign up for your own challenge to support then let me know and we can help organise it.

More to come soon on the aftermath of the Jurassic Coast 100 KM plus the gorgeous Kirsteen Higgins adventure swimming Loch Lomond and Team Shomelanoma takes on the Royal Parks Half Marathon – Part 2.

The churning stomach exam nerves returned to SW18 earlier this week after a blissful 6 weeks of no visits to Marsden HQ. After 2 years of going through scanxiety it just never gets any easier and the mind plays games with you, as the scans get closer. I woke up the other morning thinking I had been in an MDT meeting listening as my Doctor discussed my latest results. It took a few minutes for me to realise I hadn’t actually had the scans yet and I was a week too early. The scan date arrived and I kept occupied awaiting the results going furniture shopping in West London, walking 23 miles in the Surrey Hills training for the upcoming Jurassic coast 100km with Team Shomelanoma and catching up on gossip with the gorgeous Denise Callow who was over from my old stomping ground Hong Kong.

Monday morning arrived and it was good news as Dr Larkin told me the Dab/Tram treatment is continuing to work and the latest scan shows further shrinkage of the tumour in my brain. Of course, I was reminded that it is scan by scan for me and the challenge with the current treatment is the melanoma can develop resistance to the treatment after an average of 10 months. This only reinforces the importance of much needed further research to better understand why resistance develops to the drugs and development of new future treatment options.

In the next 2 weeks, I am looking forward to attending the Melanoma Patients Conference on June 22/23  http://www.melanomapatientconference.co.uk/  This conference will provide information for patients on the current systems of care, treatment access and support for melanoma. It will be attended by patients, carers, leading medical professionals and representatives from Melanoma charities and connected organisations all united in the quest for better outcomes. I am particularly excited as I was due to attend this conference last year but it coincided with me experiencing the adverse side effects to immunotherapy treatment and the start of my 3 week stay at Marsden HQ.

I will also be meeting with Dr Larkin this month to learn more about the current melanoma research projects that require funding and will share more details about this and the melanoma conference in the next blog.

Team Shomelanoma has been very busy in the last few weeks and the fabulous news is the fundraising total has now reached almost 26K which is just amazing news. I want to send a HUGE thank you to each and everyone of you who have been taking part and supporting all of the fundraising activities.

In the last month alone, we have had everything from Melissa Tarver’s extreme Majorca 312 cycle race definitely not for the faint hearted to Chris Lloyd’s Brighton marathon where he smashed his personal best. On the social side Lindsey Graham’s office had a “Wear what you want to work day” and Jennifer Clark hosted a Girls Curry night in Thame, which was lots of fun and the curry’s tasted better than most at any Indian restaurant. Liz Martin and my rock star husband Dave also recently completed the 365 days of the Dryathlon, which also raised more funds. Liz celebrated with a drinks party where she had one too many and Dave had a few glasses of red after winning a golf tournament with his brother. I am still on the teetotal regime and that’s not to say I’ll never drink alcohol again but for now I feel happy with it, my rationale being I am taking strong drugs to control my melanoma and my body is already dealing with enough. Saying that if you had told me a year ago how easy it has been to stop drinking, I wouldn’t have believed you. I have also been reading I am now part of a growing trend of adults who are reducing/abstaining from alcohol (perhaps not for the same reason as me!).

Next up for Team Shomelanoma is the Jurassic Coast 100km walk on July 21/22. The team are training hard and I am loving being back out hiking in the gorgeous UK countryside plus we’ve been blessed by the recent gorgeous weather. From Skye to the Isle of Harris, North Downs, South Downs to the Chilterns I have been lapping up the fresh air which has been clearing my head, helping me feel well and banishing melanoma to the back of my mind. Saying that my legs were shot this week after 3 big hikes in the one week and I crawled into the physio on Thursday for some relief. I am also back in the gym doing strength training plus David was surprised to walk in last week and see me standing behind the sofa doing the bingo wing workout. I explained I was using tins of tomatoes as weights and he commented that in the grand scheme of my current health issues bingo wings are the least of the problems !!!

We have also been lucky to have an amazing holiday to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland last month. Having been fortunate to travel to many wonderful places around the world this was up there with the best of them. It was peaceful, gorgeous, remote and really everything that we needed. At times, I had to pinch myself that we were actually still in the UK. The unfriendly sound of the tube rattling by in the morning was replaced with being awakened by the sound of the lambs outside the door. Larry the lamb from the Isle of Harris is definitely one of the best looking lambs in the world hence why the Harris Tweed comes from there. There are also some of the most beautiful beaches and when the sun shone you could have believed you were in the Caribbean. My woolly hat gives it away that even although the sun was out it was still pretty cold but it didn’t matter we had an amazing time. As one friend told us there is no such thing as bad weather only the wrong clothing and the bikini was definitely not needed for this holiday. We also spent time in Scotland catching up with a lot of the family and Dave was fortunate to play in the first Brian Oates memorial golf day to raise funds for Crohns and Colitis, which was lots of fun.

Since the return from Scotland summer has arrived in the UK. I started this blog to raise awareness of melanoma through telling my story. May was melanoma awareness month and more still needs to be done to get the message through to the public to protect their skin, check their moles regularly and slap on the sunscreen in all weathers to prevent skin damage. If you want a tan faking it is a far better option than getting baked. For more information on skin safety please refer to Melanoma UK http://www.melanomauk.org.uk/about_melanoma/faqs/

As I approach my 2 year cancerversary on June 15, I continue to be hugely grateful to the medical team at Marsden HQ led by Dr Larkin, CNS Nikki Hunter and all of their teams who continue to look after me so well and are keeping me on this planet, plus my wonderful hubbie David, friends and family who keep me smiling, enjoying every day to the max and are there to pick me up when I am feeling down. Cancer, I have learned is as much of a mental as physical disease.

If you would like to support Team Shomelanoma fundraising organise a curry eve, bake sale, pub quiz or sign up for your own challenge to support then let me know and we can help organise it.

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/shomelanoma

More to come soon on the Jurassic Coast 100 KM plus the gorgeous Kirsteen Higgins adventure swimming Loch Lomond coming up in August.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/shomelanoma-jurassiccoast

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/kirsteen-higgins4

Watch this space for more to come from Team Shomelanoma

The Melanoma rollercoaster is currently on a smiling high after good scan results showing further shrinkage to my brain tumour and the body scan remains clear. Over the last couple of weeks, I started to feel the numbness in the left upper side of my mouth was becoming more noticeable and my immediate concern was this must indicate that the tumour was growing. However, my doctor explained that this could be due to nerve damage or inflammation and of course your mind can plays tricks with you as we saw in the run up to the last scans. Today I am also reflecting that it is exactly one year to the day that I started my immunotherapy treatment following on from my stage 4 melanoma diagnosis, and  am feeling blessed to still be here. It also represents one year with no alcohol (albeit I am tempted for a glass of bubbly today!!) plus feeling grateful for the support from my rockstar husband, family and friends and of course the amazing care from Dr. Larkin, Nikki, Lewis and the wonderful team at the best hospital – Marsden HQ.

March has been an amazing month for Team Shomelanoma and we recently reached our heady fundraising target of £20,000 for melanoma research at the Royal Marsden. Back in June during my 3 weeks staycation at Marsden HQ when we set up the fundraising I didn’t begin to think we would reach the target in 9 months. A HUGE thank you to everyone who has danced, run, walked, laughed, donated and supported, it is massively appreciated and there is much more to come.

I presented Dr. Larkin with the obligatory cheque today and he was absolutely delighted with all the fundraising efforts and asked that his thanks be extended to you all. There are several important melanoma research projects being undertaken by Dr Larkin and his team that require funding; I will be learning more about these projects and will share more about these on the next blog.

The Beast from the East may have been in town but this didn’t stop Team Shomelanoma getting wrapped up for the Marsden March on Sunday March 4. Unfortunately, although my heart wanted to be on the walk, my head told me that due to the latest fever it wasn’t a good idea. To say I was gutted was an understatement as David trotted off to meet the rest of the team. They had a fun day and well done to the Hines and Hawkins kids who all walked 14 miles with big smiles on their faces and didn’t miss their iphones once. I loved all the messages on their backs brought a wee tear to my eye.  The team raised over £2,000 from the walk (these funds are in addition to the Shomelanoma funds), which will be allocated specifically to improving the care provided to patients and their families at the Royal Marsden hospitals.

From the Marsden March to the Danceathon a week later it was time to get the 80’s gear on and the pink legwarmers out. There was no way I was going to be missing this one due to pesky fevers, especially as I had a special guest Natasha Watts flying all the way from Hong Kong and 12 hours of cool tunes to dance our way through with all of the girl squad. It was such an amazing day and so much fun. It was one of those days that everything just came together and it not only fulfilled the goal of raising lots of funds, there were also smiles on the faces of all the kids (& parents!) as they were entertained by the fabulous Jonny Awsum to the dancers who bopped until they dropped for 12 hours. Who needs Ibiza when club classics were pumping their way through Kings Cross?

There are massive thank yous to the wonderful Emma Williams and her fantastic team at Green and Fortune for generously donating the danceathon venue, my gorgeous sister- in-law Katy for coming up with the idea and helping organise the event and her husband Sam who designed the website and organised music and DJs plus Jonny Awsum and Matt Edwards for all their entertainment plus all the sponsors who donated raffle prizes – Gibson Girl, The Training Works, Womens Chapter, World of Craig, By Sarah and Seedlip Drinks.

After all the fundraising excitement David and I escaped for a weekend of R and R to the beautiful Southwold on the Suffolk coast. Spring was in the air as we walked along the stunning beach, around the harbour and sat outside for a pub lunch. It didn’t last long however as the Beast from the East mark 2 blew in and on Saturday evening I was in bed with the woolly hat, red nose on alert and with eyes shut feeling as cold as I had on summit night of Kilimanjaro. Watching the Everest film was probably not the best idea to help matters but it did give me a taste for going to basecamp …

Back in London it was lovely to attend the WellChild Awards launch and catch up with all the team there. I was also able to get the pink bomb suit as David named it out of the wardrobe (it hadn’t been in there for long) for the glamorous night out.

We are now planning the next holiday to sunny Scotland and are off to the Outer Hebrides. I am so excited to visit Skye, Harris and Lewis and get the climbing boots back on. And to get training for the upcoming 100km walk. Lets hope the sun shines and the fevers stay at bay we are a long way from Marsden HQ although only a phone call away.

Coming up over the next few months for Team Shomelanoma :

https://www.justgiving.com/teams/shomelanoma

My gorgeous friend Melissa Tarver is taking on one of the toughest amateur cycling challenges on April 29 – the Mallorca 312 which Cyclist magazine says “Is as tough as it gets” to raise money for the melanoma team at Marsden HQ. Full details of her challenge are here.

https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/melt312

Team Shomelanoma (nine of us) are signed up to do the 100km walk on the Jurassic Coast on July 21 and 22. Training walks are about to begin BUT its not too late to join us

https://www.jurassiccoastchallenge.com/

Another gorgeous friend Kirsteen Higgins is undertaking a crazy challenge and will be swimming Loch Lomond in August. Most of you will know swimming in Scotland is more associated with the Arctic than the Mediterranean so this is one mean challenge where the bikini is not required.

If you would like to organise a curry eve, bake sale, pub quiz or sign up for your own challenge to support the shomelanoma team fundraising let me know and we can help organise it.

As you all know I started my blog to raise melanoma awareness and May is Melanoma awareness month so Iook out for a BIG awareness drive coming your way soon.

Thanks again for all your support, messages and keeping me smiling and having fun, more to come soon XX.