One day…maybe not too far away a patient diagnosed with Melanoma will be able to know in full certainty, that no matter what hospital they are treated at across England (or even better across Europe) they will get the same leaflets, the same advice and information, the same tests, the same standard of care, the same drugs……maybe….maybe one day.
But that day isn’t today.
The differences are not always massive…sometimes the differences can be as little as time…the time that a nurse or oncologist takes to explain to a patient what they have just been diagnosed with and what it means…now and in the future.
I wasn’t given the pleasure of time or of explanations…..I had to ask for it. Until I was looked after by the team at the Churchill Hospital.
So when The British Skin Foundation called me and said, please can you talk to a lady from BBC Oxford News about your Melanoma experience, following a research project announced by Oxford University I was only too happy to be involved.
Oxford University worked alongside Epworth Hospital, Melbourne on a Melanoma related study. They presented their study at the World Congress of Cancers of the Skin, at Edinburgh last week. The outcome of their research was that if you have moles you are 4 times more likely to develop Melanoma than if you have none.
For me this is crucial research – if Melanoma has such a propensity to develop inside a Mole then surely logic leads towards removal of all moles, thereby reducing the opportunity for it to develop.
Granted this is my logic…which is somewhat doo-lally…after all…in my head more Mole removal procedures means more new sets of matching undies!
However if we take my insanity & place it back on the shelf it belongs, and focus upon the importance of the research, we can see that a much greater level of scrutiny should be placed upon Detection & Early diagnosis.
The average person has between 10 – 40 moles…..40 sounds a lot…but start counting & it soon adds up! Research showing a quadrupled chance of Melanoma if you have lots of Moles helps indicate potential areas of vigilance for Doctors and Dermatologists. This opens avenues for discussions.
So I did that interview…donned my joggers, ran up & down the road a few dozen times….peeled & chopped 10 Sweet potatoes (guess what we had for Supper!)…explained that yes my Melanoma appeared in a pre-existing Mole which linked to the study from Oxford…and praised the team at the Churchill.
Praise should be given when it is deserved and I wish that all patients could be as proud as I am to be treated at a University hospital that is as devoted to research and researching a cure as it is to treating and caring for its patients.
Without research there will be no cure.
That why I ran that 10K & it’s why I will be prancing around a studio for 5 hours enduring back to back Aerobic sessions…all in the name of raising money for research.
When most people think about “medical research” you think about little mice … being tested unwillingly with various lethal concoctions of drugs until finally a breakthrough is made.
Melanoma patients are a bit like mice…..often referred to as guinea pigs….we get given drugs in clinical trials – drugs that have reached a point where they are suitable for testing on humans but are still somewhat unknown. The side effects and issues caused frequently horrendous. And yet Melanoma patients take these drugs willingly – because the choice of not taking them – of having no treatment is inconceivable.
My daughter was given Gerbils for her birthday…..bigger than mice…smaller than Guinea pigs….but still reasonably adorable to look at….they have bitten my fingers more times than I can count…one crawled up the sleeves of my top whilst I, mid panic, desperately tried not to scream & wave my arms around removing said wriggly creature quickly, reluctant to show the little people that brave mummy could actually be undone by a teensy tiny “innocent” gerbil.
Mummy who is responsible for removing spiders from the house (pint glass & CD)…checking under beds for ghosts and never lets my little people see that I am scared – ever – even when I get baddies cut off my skin when they haven’t “knocked me out” as my son referred to it.
If a researcher can handle a mouse in the name of science *…saving the lives of many a Melanoma patient as they work, then surely I can combat my inner wimp and cuddle a gerbil….I should think of it as research….
Sometime research isn’t all that much fun.
*small print…note of importance….I have no idea if they use mice to test Melanoma drugs & I can’t imagine for a second there are mice or gerbils or guinea pigs of the fluffy animal variety used in any of the Oxford University study projects.*Insert smiley face*
Please feel free to watch the video courtesy of BBC Oxford News & the wonderful Adina Campbell.