Big Month

It has been a massive month for the melanoma world and myself! I have always said that having cancer has opened up many new and exciting opportunities for me.

Over the past month I have ridden with a young man named Raph (Image below), who was riding from Adelaide to Sydney in memory of his sister who passed with Melanoma. He was also raising money for The Melanoma Institute to add more funds for cancer research. 

Raph and I. 

Amanda and others that Rode with Raph to Whittlesea. 

Raph’s energy and dedication toward his personal quest was also completed with his sister, relatives and parents driving as support for him from state to state.

I met Raph on his leg from Footscray to Whittlesea. I joined him on Plenty Rd. Bundoora and rode 40km with him and a few other supporters of Raph who had also been touched by melanoma. We headed to Whittlesea where he stayed the night before continuing to Sydney to finish this quest.

From the group that met Raph, I finally met Amanda Lucci, whom I had only met via email or social media.  Amanda’s father passed away from Melanoma 2 years ago and she was behind organizing the March for Melanoma, which I will talk about later. These are the wonderful people I have met through cancer and made me take the commitment towards working with Melanoma.

This ride was enjoyable and proved how riding and exercise can connect people. Earlier that morning I trained with my cousin Mikael Camm who was training for his up coming debut Melbourne Ironman Event and was raising money for cancer via The Tour De Cure group. We rode 70km on the along Beach Rd. It was so nice to ride and spend time with him sharing stories and challenging each other at certain points along the ride.

Mikael Competing. 

This brings me to the Melanoma Walk around the Tan in Melbourne. Amanda, who I mentioned earlier, was the passionate and driving force behind organizing this event. The Melbourne Melanoma Support group that I started, banded together to form a fundraising group and this group raised a lot of money and was the force behind Melbourne being the highest fund raising group around the country. I am very proud of all who attended and what was raised for Melanoma research.  This walk gave us all a chance to reflect and celebrate life with family, friends and take a moment to realise what a lot of us have achieved in this terrible melanoma journey we are on.  I congratulate Amanda and her team for the endless work they did. It was great to have my family there and walk with Lisa, the girls and I.

Girls scooting on the walk.

Melanoma Support Group. 

My Family and friends supporting. 

Also this month saw another round of scans. Once again nerves and anxiety got me….no idea how to solve this. I had my scans on Friday and my appointment wasn’t until the Monday…… Far too long to wait, those who are in this situation know how I felt. To top it all off, the CT scan room I was in had a screen switched on and was facing me. This has never happened before……I was watching the scans happen and was trying to analyse the images…..not a good idea. You can only image the thoughts running through my head.  NOTE: to radiographers, patients having scans do have worries and concerns when being scanned..... anxiety levels are high…. therefore keep all screens off and out of view.

My results turned out to be all good….. I still have one remaining tumour in the chest area behind the lungs. Not moving or doing anything….. been there since October 2012…... No new tumours or issues. I decided to name my permanent residence (tumour) ‘The Stayer’, as it doesn’t seem to want to leave.

I am relieved with the results and happy to be feeling fit and healthy.

My family is very well; Lisa is still injured and frustrated with the lack of exercise she can do and not being able to work is also taking it’s toll, however, she is slightly happier with her new car. It has been great to have Lisa home on Saturday’s and not working. Our regular Pancake Saturday now involves Lisa.

Ariella is doing extremely well at school with her work and is eager to learn. She is jumping groups in her swimming lessons and also at gymnastics. Kalita loves Kinder and exploring her writing skills by penning letters to her friends and us. Zahlia is doing very well with gymnastics and has an adorable habit of trying her hardest to follow and do everything her sisters do. She also loves her swimming and gymnastics.

Ariella. 

Kalita

Zahlia and my nephew Flynn.

My Gorgeous Ariella and sister Olivia.

These memorial moments are very much locked in my memory and definitely celebrated. It is important no matter how small or how big to always celebrate and enjoy your family moments.

I am also very excited as I head to join the Tour De Cure group for 250+km of riding from Mansfield to Eilden, then Eilden to Port Melbourne roughly 5000m of climbing. I have trained harder than last year’s tour. Last year I was under done and was coming off some serious illness and surgeries.  A very big thanks to all those who have supported me and raised funds for cancer research! 
Thanks to Matthew Collins who has trained with me for the lead up to this ride. Also congratulations to Matthew and his wife on the birth of their third daughter..... there goes my riding partner. 

I will keep you posted with my ride and how it all went.

Life sends us challenges and we need to take these challenges head on.

Remember to hug your loved one's. Love to all. x