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Emma Dunlop
Emma Dunlop - Great Wall of China Trek
Story
Hey Everyone,
I am the Emma that is in Emma’s Story featured in The Great Wall of China Trek Pamphlet. I have been battling Melanoma for the past 3 years and it progressed sadly into stage 4 for the last 12 months. I got my first clear scan in 3 years a few monhts back in December 2016 and lasted 5 months cancer free until just recently where a PET scan has confirmed my cancer has returned. 3 nodules in my lungs, I started my first IV treatment Keytruda in the chemo ward of Norwest Private Hospital on the 27th June 2017 .
My mission is to help fundraise money for research, in hope that one day we can find a cure so others in the future don’t have to go through what im going through. There is no cure for stage 4 Melanoma, we are just waiting on new treatments to become available to keep my battle going. None of this is possible without funding. Every dollar counts!!!
1 Australian dies of Melanoma every 6 hours. Im not ready to be a statistic, I didnt go down without a fight last time and im definately not going down this time either!!! Who knows what the future holds, but I’m doing the best I can to make it as bright as possible. Help me make this possible.
Please click the donate button on the right hand side to make your donation / sponsor me on this walk. All donations are tax deductible.
If your interested in reading my story / speech i done at the Melanoma March in March 2017 in Parramatta please read below. This was during my 5 months of being cancer free.
Thanks for all your ongoing support 
Here is my story:
I was first diagnosed in February 2014 when I was only 29. My mum noticed that a freckle inside my hair line was turning pink on the bottom. She told me that she was going to call every day until I make an appointment to have it looked at. After day 4 I was over her nagging at me so I went and to a skin clinic.
I had 4 bcc’s removed from my face and the mole in question removed from my hairline. When the biopsy came back 2 weeks later, it was confirmed as melanoma. I was told I need to wait for the hospital to call me to make an appointment to go in and have more surgically removed. It took a whole month for them to call me and didn’t that month feel like a life time.
I had 2 cms around the mole removed to ensure we got it all. They had to cut half of my head open to ensure that when they stitched it back up my face wouldn’t be deformed. Whilst I was in surgery they also checked my lymphnodes to see if it had spread. It has spread to my lymphnodes in my neck and 2 of them were removed. I then underwent 3 monthly scans to ensure the cancer hadn’t spread anywhere else in the body. Every scan for the next 18 months came back clear. I was able to breathe and continue planning my wedding.
I went to Koh Samui and got married in September 2015. While I was away the cancer clinic was trying to call me to advise that I need to come in to discuss my last scan. When I returned from my honeymoon I went in to the clinic. I was told that there was a spot in my lung from my last scan that they would like to biopsy just to double check that its not Melanoma. They didn’t think it was but we needed to do the biopsy just to confirm.
The biopsy is done in an imaging facility, the place where you go for regular CT scans and ultrasounds. They put a needle through your back while your awake and into your lung to take a small tissue sample to send away to test for Melanoma. I was informed by the technician the possible risks involved. He said that there is a less than 5% chance that my lung could collapse but assured me that it had never happened in his medical career, having done this procedure over 1000’s times before. During my biopsy I was in a lot of pain. I was told I shouldn’t be as they have given me enough sedation for a 140kg man but trust me I could feel it. Well guess what happened…….. yep you guessed it……… he punctured my lung and it was collapsing. He assured me not to panic but he was going to put a drain in my back and sent me straight to emergency.
With a drain in my back I was driven by a friend to the ER. I was taken straight in and within about 20 mins I was screaming in excruciating pain and being rushed to the resuss bay. I then spent 1 week in emergency. When the nurses told me that I could go home I still had chest pain so we done another scan. My biopsy results matched up with the scan. The results were positive for Melanoma and I was informed that it had spread to both my lungs.
I felt anxious, lost and very confused. What do you mean the melanoma had spread to both my lungs? How is that I only had my scan 8 weeks ago right before I left for my wedding and now it has spread to both my lungs, having 3 nodules and being stage 4? What does this even mean? Where too from here? Am I going to die? So many questions that I needed answered and I was in complete shock.
I then went and seen my amazing oncologist Matt Carlino who discussed my options with me. My melanoma was BRAF Positive. I then went on the BRAF combo. Which was Mekinist and Tafinlar tablets. We didn’t know if it would work or not but it was our starting point. Tablets were the first option before going to IV when your BRAF positive. I continued on this treatment for 12 months. My body totally didn’t agree with it but I stuck with it as I figured if its keeping me alive then I can put up with the side affects. After 12 months on the tablets i was over it. Nausea, vomiting, my body broke out in a rash which was panniculitis and I couldn’t walk on my feet, fevers, body convulsions and a visit from the ambulance. I went in to tell my oncologist that im done. I was throwing the towel in.
Matt said to me are u sure you want to go off treatment. I said yep I just cant do it anymore and to my surprise he said that fine cause your scan is clear. I thought I totally heard him wrong. I went to throw the towel in and yet my scan was clear. No evidence of disease. What a miracle. I was in disbelief, I didn’t feel like it was real. It couldn’t be real until my next scan. I had my next scan only last month and it too came back clear. That’s when reality hit. OMG right now I cancer free. My sister and I walked out of the clinic and we didn’t even speak a word the whole way to car. When we got to the car I looked and her and she said yep that just happened. So as it stands as of a few weeks ago I am cancer free.
I live each day not knowing when and if it will return. I think that’s a fear I will carry around for the rest of my life but im staying positive. I never in a million years thought I would ever hear the letters N.E.D but I did. I am one of the lucky ones. Not everyone gets the same outcome as me. Many sadly loose their battle. Be aware of the price you might one day pay for that tan you’ve been working on all summer – a life threatening disease that hits you in the prime of your life. It’s just not worth it. Everyone thinks it can’t happen to them, I’m here to tell you it can and it does, just like it did to me at the age of 29. Melanoma doesn’t discriminate – it affects young and old alike and is the most common cancer in 15-39 year olds.
How your fundraising can change lives:
As a part of Melanoma Institute Australia Great Wall of China Trek you will join a group of inspiring individuals dedicated to helping MIA pioneer advances in melanoma research and treatment that are making a difference to the lives of patients today.
The NeoTrio Trial: prevent melanoma advancing
As the saying goes, ‘prevention is the best cure’, and MIA’s NeoTrio trial is all about that!
The standard treatment for patients who develop stage III melanoma (melanoma which has travelled to lymph nodes) is to have surgery to remove the affected and surrounding lymph nodes, known as a complete lymph node dissection.
Sadly, even after this procedure, there is a high likelihood of the melanoma returning and advancing to stage IV melanoma, meaning it has spread to distant organs around the body causing it to be highly life threatening.
New drugs have been trialled and shown to be effective to treat stage IV melanoma, but wouldn’t it be incredible if we could stop it advancing to this point in the first place?
The NeoTrio trial is an important clinical study that will test whether immunotherapy treatments currently used to treat stage IV patients could in fact prevent patients from developing advanced melanoma altogether.
On the trial, patients with stage III melanoma will receive immunotherapy or immunotherapy plus targeted therapy before and after their complete lymph node dissection to see if it will prevent stage IV melanoma from developing. This will be revolutionary if it works.
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Melanoma Institute Australia
Melanoma Institute Australia is dedicated to the goal of zero deaths from melanoma, a goal we believe we can reach this decade through innovative, world-class research, treatment, and education programs. For more info, visit our website. Melanoma Institute Australia (incorporating melanomaWA, Skin Cancer Tasmania and Amie St Clair).
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