I was a mess and felt like I was a dead man walking. When I saw the scans and the size of the tumours, I thought I was going to die.”
For Warren, his recovery from stage 4 melanoma truly feels like a miracle, but he knows that it is cancer research that really saved his life.
It was 10 years ago when he was 45 years old when Warren first noticed the dark freckle on his shoulder, but it wasn’t until five years later that it started to change shape and he decided to do something about it. He received the diagnosis that it was melanoma and had a medical team work quickly to remove the tumour.
Warren thought this was the end of his cancer story. But it wasn’t.
“The melanoma returned worse than before. I had follow-up scans done two years later and went to receive my results without any support. In my mind, it was just a regular check-up, ” he says.
“But this was no standard appointment—I was told the melanoma was back. It was stage 4 and had spread to my brain, liver and lungs.
I was a mess and felt like I was a dead man walking. When I saw the scans and the size of the tumours, I thought I was going to die. But thanks to ground-breaking cancer treatments, I am still here today.”
Since this life-changing diagnosis, Warren has been on an immunotherapy program—like the ones funded by Cancer Council—which uses the body’s own immune system to fight the cancer and he has had positive results.
“I’m so thankful that more effective treatments like immunotherapy have been available to me. They have allowed my medical team to focus more on my difficult-to-treat brain tumours,” he says.
“I know that I am so lucky to be alive today, thanks to the incredible therapies born from cancer research.
That’s why I’m so grateful to generous people like you who decide to fund cancer research. Your selflessness gives me, and others like me, hope that treatment options will continue to improve. Your kind gift helps even more people like me survive melanoma.”
Give what you can this Daffodil Day to help give more than hope to people like Warren.
