I am one of the too many Australians that has been diagnosed with a type of skin cancer.
1st March 2023
Tamara Dawson
3 min read
I am one of the too many Australians that has been diagnosed with skin cancer. Two in three Australians will be told they have skin cancer by the time they turn 70. It is our national cancer.
I was in my mid-30s, happily married, devoted mum to a one-year-old son and busy focused on my career when I first heard the words “you have metastatic melanoma”. I wasn’t feeling my usual chipper self and had some odd abdominal pain. My GP wondered if it could be a strained muscle or perhaps kidney stones and sent me off for an ultrasound. Here started my journey of melanoma, eight years ago.
The first 12 months were hard to say the least. Melanoma was not part of my life plan. I was overwhelmed with the sympathy and support I received, but it was still an incredibly difficult time for me as I tried to manage my health and understand what melanoma meant for my family.
Melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer can be difficult diseases to navigate. One of the things that struck me when I was first diagnosed, and still upsets me the most, was the realisation that so many other families were also going through this. Thousands of Australians are treated each year and thousands continue to die from the disease each year.
” My experience as a patient started to fuel a deep motivation to make the cancer journey easier for other patients and their families. “
My experience as a patient started to fuel a deep motivation to make the cancer journey easier for other patients and their families. As a patient, I was often overwhelmed and could see many opportunities for improved patient-centred care. I suspect there are many melanoma and skin cancer patients who have seen the care and support provided to breast cancer patients and wondered why we don’t have this!
As my health improved, I became engaged as a consumer and advocate. I joined various steering committees for research projects, contributed to research papers, and spoke to patients and clinicians across the country who all wanted to improve the patient experience. My energy was coming back and my motivation was through the roof. I quietly tested my idea with a few trusted friends, clinicians and researchers who understood the skin cancer community. I researched, I consulted and I planned until I had nothing left to do but launch the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Advocacy Network (MSCAN) – our national, independent, consumer led organisation for people affected by a melanoma or non-melanoma skin cancer diagnosis. We have a top-notch Board, fabulous volunteers and a growing team.
In just over 2 years, MSCAN has achieved so much. I look back on my career in trade and agriculture policy – striding the halls of Parliament House in Canberra, advising senior executives of big banks, negotiating Free Trade Agreements – and could never have imagined that today I would be the Founder and Director of an energetic and innovative charity on the back of my own devastating diagnosis and long but healthy recovery.
- I love working with MSCAN’s partners across Australia to shift the thinking of our politicians, big business, farmers and community to reduce the burden of Australia’s national cancer.
- I love advocating for change that will ultimately see more patients accessing clinical trials and treatment options when they need it.
- I love being part of an international movement to ensure a greater focus on skin cancer prevention and early detection, and where the word ‘cure’ in the context of advanced cancer is actively debated.
- I love knowing that more patients are beating their diagnosis through the revolutionary treatment options for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer that actually work.
- I love that MSCAN can support patients and their families to cope with a cancer diagnosis and understand the treatment and comprehend the diagnosis in a daunting hospital system.
I am grateful that I live in Australia and have access to high quality health care. My routine scans to check if the cancer has returned still bring sleepless nights and questions of what if. But thanks to my incredible treating team and the wonders of immunotherapy, some surgery and radiation therapy, I am here to hug my son, pay tax, walk my dog, have date nights, and wear some fabulous wide brimmed hats.
There are promising new treatment options for melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer on the horizon and a terrific group of clinicians and researchers together with advocates, politicians and industry who are leading change.
