Claire was busy navigating parenthood and had just returned to work after taking parental leave when she first heard the words “you have metastatic melanoma”.

She hadn’t been feeling her usual chipper self and had felt some odd pain deep inside her body. Claire’s GP wondered if it could be a strained muscle or perhaps kidney stones and sent Claire off for an ultrasound. There started Claire’s +10 year journey of melanoma.

The first 12 months were incredibly difficult. Melanoma was not part of Claire’s life plan. She was overwhelmed with the sympathy and support she received, often not knowing how, or even wanting to deal with the good intentions of others as she tried to manage her health and understand what melanoma meant for her family.

The hospital visits and specialist appointments kept coming as Claire’s physical strength deteriorated. The hospital system was daunting and confusing and left Claire feeling like a passenger in her own body, struggling to find her voice amidst a sea of clinical jargon and sterile corridors.

Claire avoided trying to understand why her, why now, why this.

It was too hard to process while trying to understand what stage IV melanoma meant and to choose between treatment options.

It seems the melanoma – the meanie – had already made life decisions on behalf of Claire – like the fading prospect of growing her family or the opportunity to continue her career she was so passionate about and to be honest, very good at! Claire was left with weighing up the risks of her decisions on herself and her beloved husband and gorgeous one year old. 

Claire was fortunate to have a fabulous treating team to support her in understanding that she wasn’t just a statistic or a case study; she was a young mum with everything to fight for. They helped her break down the terrifying data into manageable, hopeful steps forward.

Claire was struck by the realisation of how many other families were also trying to navigate a melanoma or skin cancer diagnosis, with two in three Australians to have skin cancer by the time they turn 70. The survival rates following an advanced melanoma diagnosis at that time weren’t great which just made things scarier for Claire. 

After the devastating diagnosis, it has been a long and slow but healthy recovery. Claire beat her diagnosis with immunotherapy – the revolutionary treatment option for melanoma that actually works.

Today more than 10 years later, Claire is still grateful that she lives in Australia where we have access to high quality health care. Claire’s routine scans to check if the cancer has returned still bring sleepless nights and questions of what if. But thanks to her incredible treating team and the wonders of immunotherapy, some surgery and radiation therapy, Claire is waking up each day to hugs from her now 12 year old as well as paying tax, walking her dog, enjoying date nights with her hubby and being the proud owner and wearer of a wardrobe of stylish wide brimmed hats.

Claire’s journey is a meaningful reminder that while life rarely follows our plan, there are amazing clinicians and researchers together with advocates, politicians and industry who are creating new life paths for those impacted by an advanced cancer diagnosis with promising new treatment options for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer on the horizon.