March Against Melanoma and more

March Against Melanoma and more.

What a great morning for family and friends get together at the March Against Melanoma Fundraiser. My wonderful sister, Olivia Jones organised a team for this walk and this was a successful gathering of friends, family, work colleagues and people who have supported me during my terrible journey

The Walk was held at Catani Gardens in St. Kilda. The morning was brisk to begin with, however the weather was magic by mid morning.

Balloon Tribute magical morning

 We had a team of about 50+ involved and the fundraising for this event was competitive. Not to mention families from the school I work at forming teams. Team Huckjonesstepp did exceptionally well, raising $4955. This placed us 2^nd on the overall team fund raising chart. The leading team was hard to beat. They raised $9500. This fund raising was a big effort and hope that it heads towards some well needed research towards a cure.

Our team was called Huckjonesstepp. The name is a combination of my family name, Jones, and the Huckstepp name as this is the family name of my uncle Leeroy Huckstepp who passed away in July 2012 from Melanoma. These combinations of families have clearly been effected by Melanoma.

It was a fantastic morning and my family and I enjoyed the time to spend with each other and our friends.

Good Mates. These guys are true mates, played Footy with them and spend a lot of time together. 

 MY PROGRESS UPDATE:

To keep you updated with my progress. I had blood tests a week ago and a visit to my oncologists to find out my result and discuss my progress. In his words, my bloods are ‘pristine’. He was extremely impressed with how I looked and progressing. I now have scans at the end of March. My oncologist has mentioned that if my scans are clear I might have 6 month scans; this makes me excited, but nervous at the same time. I would be comfortable with bloods every 6 weeks and meet the oncologists every month and scans every 4 months. The Dabrafenib Drug I am on is working well. I hope it stays this way.

Another part of my journey that has occurred in the past month was presenting to the Middle School Chapel Service, this presentation was based on my journey so far and the ‘Hope’ and ‘Determination’ to push through my disease. It was a wonderful service and something I found moving at the same time I was unsure of how my story would be received by the students ranging from 13YO to 16YO.

My beautiful Girls. The best wife and my best friend and our three gorgeous girls.

Once again life has improved and I am feeling very good. I am riding 110km a week on the bike and plan to run in the next few weeks and this will be interesting considering I haven’t ran since 29^th September 2012.  Work is great! Enjoying the time with my class. The iPad’s are a huge hit and the students are doing some mind-blowing work on them.  

In the next few weeks we have a lot on, The Tour de Cure ride team made up of Parents from school are coming to visiting on 18^th March and sharing what they are doing for Cancer they plan to present at assembly. I have been asked to join them for the assembly and the ride out of the school in the morning.

Our Huckjonesstepp team. 

Keep you posted about my next scans at the end of March. Love to all.