TOUGH MONTH.

It has been an interesting and challenging Month. Mother’s Day was a special day/weekend. I spent the Saturday before Mother’s Day with my mum having a wonderful family dinner at our place. My mum has worked most Mother’s Days, and seeing her on Mother’s Day is sometimes challenging. This year I was keen to have the family over on the Saturday to spend time with mum. Mum, like most mothers’, is the support in the family. She has sacrificed so much for us and has been an amazing support to the family. It was wonderful to spend this time with her.

Lisa had a sensational Mother’s Day also. The girls spoiled her and we spent the morning walking our wonderful, beautiful and spectacular suburb, following the Yarra River that peacefully runs along the bottom of our street. It was a beautiful morning and this made the time together even more special. It isn’t until you take the time to look around and see the beauty around us…..something people do need to take more time to do.

I was also lucky enough to have flown up to Sydney in April to visit the Australian Melanoma Institute. It was an opportunity to tour this incredible facility, which made me very envious and in admiration of what was in this place and how much work is being done in the research and treatment of Melanoma. It is a groundbreaking place and I wished Melbourne had something similar and as advanced.

In my journey with Melanoma, I have met some inspiring and motivated people who have either suffered or are suffering from this insidious disease. The Melanoma Support Group has been a place that has opened the avenues for me to meet many motivated and positive people…….fighters like Elise Beaton and her husband Jason. Elise is stage 4 fighter and was diagnosed when she was pregnant to her second child. She is someone who is fit, healthy and very positive. As a person she is amazing and as a mother I am sure she is an inspiration to her children. Jason is her support and the two are so motivated and focused on moving forward and enjoying life. Others in the group are also fighters and inspiring in how they tackle their scans and a life with this disease.

This brings me to the most inspiring and toughest person I have ever known….. Scott De Young, sadly lost his battle with Melanoma about a week and half ago. Elise, Jason, Lisa and I attended the service and we were all emotionally moved. It was a fitting tribute to a sensational and tough man. His battle was a roller coaster of up’s and down’s, but the whole time he never complained and fought hard……in his words, ‘Whatever it Takes’. He has left behind a legacy, by having the his fight he took head on to be given the Yervoy drug…..his fight has seen the drug placed onto the PBS and this has opened up the treatment in Australia for many late Stage 4 fighters. More importantly he leaves behind a wonderful wife and three beautiful children. Kim is a remarkable woman who has been a huge support and positive force in Scott’s fight. Meeting Kim and Scott has given, Lisa and I an even more positive focus on fighting hard, ‘Whatever it Takes’. We are here now to support Kim and the family.

Scott and Kim. 

My work is extremely busy and now it is report writing time therefore it is only going to become even more hectic. I have been exploring my passion of E-Learning. I am pursuing further with this professional part of my life……In the next few months I will be hosting iPad based Webinars for an education consultancy company. I am also presenting at a couple of conferences…….this is exciting and another step forward for me to ensure my life is as normal and can be…….and not associated as someone who has Cancer. 


My class working on some iPad work I have created. My Passions. 

Lisa is great, however very frustrated as she is still injured and unable to run therefore, gym and swimming are her only ways she can exercise. Her work is also going well and being a mum is always busy.

The girls are fun and like Lisa busy with school, kinder, gymnastics, swimming, kids parties and general life. The small things I love doing with the girls are always treasured moments. Spending time having our regular Saturday milkshakes are moments that we look forward too along with our usual Saturday morning Pancakes. Treasuring these moments are parts of my life that I lock away and keep forever…….and make me appreciate life, setting my state of mind to being here for a ‘long time’. We all should enjoy every moment we have and savor these snippets of life for your personal satisfaction.

My love of cycling has maintained and I am still riding around 200km a week….. and loving it. My mate and training partner has been assisting where possible. He has had some days where he has missed a ride or two……I enjoy our rides and the fitness I have gained from cycling……I must say I am keen to get into a race or two soon…..its a matter of when and finding the time.

As for my health and scans…….the body is great I am fit and feeling amazing. My bloods have been outstanding and I am due for scans in about a month…..I am out to three monthly scans now and for me this is nervous times…..but also rewarding because it means things are going well.

I have always said that cancer has opened many windows for me…….I have been approached to speak at a community forum in the Greensborough area on Men’s Health, fitness and resilience (basically telling my story). Opportunities like these I really enjoy and embrace.

Overall, life is fantastic and I am forever grateful for what is happening to me and how good I am feeling…… I am working full time, presenting at conferences, training hard, being a dad, husband, brother, uncle, son, friend and teacher. At the same time embracing Melanoma as something that is there….but not there….if that makes sense.

Thoughts are also with a close friend who is going through a tough time. Thinking of her. 

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

Tour De Cure.....DONE and ACHIEVED!!!

Well I did it and had an absolute amazing time.

My Tour De Cure Goal has been achieved. I drove with my parents to Mansfield Primary School; it was about two and half hours from my house.  Last year when I joined the Tour De Cure team, Dad drove up with me and it was great to spend time with him.

Heading off that morning a beautiful Rainbow Appeared. 

This year Mum joined us, and this was wonderful to have her come along for the drive. Last year, I was fit but I wouldn’t say my health was 100%, so dad travelled with the Tour as support for me. This year this he wasn’t needed as my health was 110% better than last year and my fitness was at its peak.

My Parents and I. 

Mum and I. Tour De Cure Kit. 

Another photo of my parents and I. 

Mum was curious to see what the Tour De Cure organization and how it was coordinated and how professional it was.

Once I received my cycling kit, I got changed and then had my beautiful mum fussing over me. Mum is amazing and loves to pander her sons and daughter and not to mention spoil the grandchildren. In front of grown men and women of the Tour De Cure, mum was putting sunscreen on my face, neck and ears. She was just being a mother.

Kitted up and hopefully looking fit. 

Then she would head off to the catering van and come back with a plate of lunch for me. All of this reminded me of when I was in hospital and she was concerned for me fussing and cleaning my room, taking washing home.

From not too far away, dad was watching and I am sure in his own little way was enjoying what was happening.  I loved the short time I had with my parents before I left from Mansfield with the peloton.

I was feeling very excited about joining the group. As I mentioned my fitness was at its peak. I’d been averaging around 230km a week and lots of climbing, which by the way paid off on the ride.

My first day was from Mansfield to Eildon, around 95km of riding and 1850m of climbing. I rolled out of the gates of the school like a ‘rock star’. Students at school visits we attend, form a guard of honor high fiving each rider as we pass.

We rolled out of Mansfield, in an easy pace through the town centre. I was comfortable and looking forward to chatting with the people on the ride. This part of the tour is a fantastic. You meet amazing people on the tour who are passionate about cycling, but many of the riders have a story that is linked to cancer, themselves, friends or family.

The scenery along the way is remarkable lots of beautiful mountain rangers, tall trees and wild life in the many paddocks we went passed……..not to mention the unfortunate smell of road kill.  

As we reached the first climb of the day (7km), I was feeling ready to smash the climb. The idea with these rides is to ride at peloton pace, unless the lead and rear cars say ride ‘you can ride at your own pace’. …….. Well these were the words that came through, ‘we could ride at our own pace’…….My eyes lit up and I hit the pedals climbing strong and fresh. I was with the two guys who also looked strong. Pushing up the 7km climb that had an average gradient of 18%. Was testing my strength and fitness. Again I was feeling the privilege of being so fit again…remembering last year it was a more flat course. I felt so fit this year and really proud of the fact I was here riding. I am pretty sure I was the only person in this Tour riding who still had cancer.

After the climb to the top of Eildon. 

Peter and I. Very inspirational person. 

You can see the images below of the ride profile to day 1. The decent down the mountain was fun but at the same time it was dangerous. You are travelling at speeds of 65km+ an hour, which on a bike is fast and can be hazardous given the terrain of the road.

Route and profile of day 1.

We arrived in Eildon and I was feeling great and proud of what I had achieved. Chatting with many of the other riders it appears the Mansfield to Eildon ride was tough. Day 1 done for me.

Dennis and I leaving Eildon for day 2 of my time. 

Day 2 was to take us From Eildon to Port Melbourne…..160km and around 1900m of climbing. We rolled out to a rather wet morning heading toward Healesville, for another presention to a school called St. Brigids Primary School.

Route Day 2 and profile. 

The roads were very wet and the climb up Black Spur was amazing and picturesque. Once again I felt great and didn’t feel any effects of the day before ride.

I was given the honour of rolling with the front six riders. Meaning the six of us had to control the pace of the peloton and keep our turns rolling. It felt good to be in this situation. For me it meant the other riders saw me as a strong cyclist, capable of keeping the peloton together. 

The climb up Black Spur was steady and not at a huge pace. The decent was very much a slow and cautious decent. The roads were slippery and dangerous. We had one puncture on the decent. But this rider kept the bike up right and safe.

We gained pace out of Healesville, and took some challenging climbs through the back of Mt. Evelyn and Coldstream. This is where the pace dropped and we began to lose time. The Group needed to be on the Spirit of Tasmania by 5:30pm and we were in Croydon at 2:30pm with about 50km+ to go and a school visit as well.  

Peter Braine, one of the riders was very keen to make the school as it was his children’s school and we picked the pace up and had crossed Springvale rd. with about 35km to go, the school was finished for the day. The lead car had kept the school informed with our timing and the students had decided to wait for us to arrive. We arrived at 3:50pm and presented a quick, but concise Tour presentation. The rain was coming down as we left the school and we needed to pick the pace up to make time to Port Melbourne.

Alysha and her daughter at the Surry Hills school visit.

We made the time and arrived at Port Melbourne for the group to board the Spirit at 5:20pm.

I was wishing I was heading over to finish the Tour with them. 

My lovely, supportive wife was waiting for me to take me home.

My emotions were mixed…….over the moon at what I had achieved. Very excited to see Lisa…….and at the same time proud of what she has allowed me to do to get here. Without her support and love I am not sure I would be here today.

An older photo. But Lisa never changes always beautiful.

I am now more determined than ever to raise money for cancer and join the Tour De Cure next year for the full duration of 10 days and 1600km of riding. Which will require more funds to be raised and more time on the bike training.

Done and achieved. 

I feel this year I was very fit and motivated to achieve this goal......... once I had ticked it off I wanted more.

So, goals to be set for next 12 months, train hard, race more, keep healthy, love my family more than ever, raise money, awareness and research into cancer……and complete the full 10 days of the tour.

Thanks to everyone who has supported me with funds or training or general motivation.

Obviously special thanks to my lovely family…..mum and dad for believing in me, my siblings for supporting and also knowing how determined I was.  You all have stood by me.

My training partner Matthew Collins who rode with me to get my K’s up and chatted with me about life; you have been a strong support and good mate.

One of our regular rides and this bloke has been a great support. 

Carey Grammar, for allowing me to take time away from work to ride.

Lastly, my three gorgeous girls and amazing wife, for putting up with the many hours I trained on the bike and being the positives in my life that keep me fighting.

All of these words and moments have been locked in my memory bank and will be there for me to reflect on as time goes by. 

Love these three so very much. 

'Believe' readers that anything is possible.

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

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