On the 30th of October 2017, Our family received some shocking news - Joe was diagnosed with stage iv metastatic melanoma. The Oncologist said that without treatment, Joe would not survive to the end of 2017. Scary stuff. Thankfully, we have some wonderful scientists in this world creating amazing treatments and joe immediately begun immunotherapy with a combination of drugs. We were warned of side effects but so far joe really has only felt fatigue and vitiligo (skin colour change) to date. 

Only recently did we have follow-up scans to see if/how effective the treatment is. By and large the news was positive; most of the tumors in the body have shrunk with some completely gone - yay science! Unfortunately there were some pesky tumors in the liver and brain that have not shrunk and/or have grown. To combat this, Joe is preparing for a course of radiotherapy to compliment the immunotherapy he remains on.  

Melanoma is a unpredictable beast but we are hopeful this will be effective. At this point in time there is no cure so Joe’s best hope is to get to NED (No Evidence of Disease) and stay that way until some bright sparks come up with a cure! 

To support further research into Melanoma, we have decided to participate in #MelanomaMarch here in Perth under the team name #RunWithJoe (lol - but there will be only walking involved!) and we reach out to all of you to support us with this journey to hopefully find a cure for this cancer. 

There are MelanomaMarchs being held across the country this month and next - if this is your thing, we’d love to see as many people as possible turning up to these events supporting research and public awareness on this awful disease. If you want to join our team - please feel free! 

Even if it’s not your thing, we want to strongly encourage all our friends and family to become more aware on sun safety and the steps we can all take to prevent any other loved ones receiving this horrible diagnosis. You can find more information through the links on the Melanoma Institute of Australia (MIA) page.

Joe has been told he should not drive for the moment pending future scans showing his brain tumors stabilising or decreasing, and he can’t do as much physically as he used to, but other than that, we have been lucky - at the moment we have been able to carry on our lives as close to normal as possible - he is still working and being a great dad to Dante and Claudia, and a super husband to me.

We don’t know what the rest of this journey is going to look like, but every prayer, positive vibe, happy thoughts, chakra alignment or funny meme inspires and motivates us to keep fighting!! 

Love, 

Joe, Ally, Dante & Claudia