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Stuart Rose - Fighting Melanoma

  • Stu"s progress on the new meds

      26 November 2020

    From Stuart:

    Hi everyone. Thank you all for your continuing generosity and support. I'd especially like to thank Charli's friend Emma, who did a fantastic job raising money by having her lovely long hair cut off and donated to Freedom Wigs. I have seen Emma and given her a big hug, and there were tears (not hers).

    As for my treatment progress, the Dabrafenib and Trametinib that I am taking seem to be doing amazing things. Since starting these medications while still in hospital, and in the subsequent weeks that I have been home, I have been feeling better and better every day. I feel better in myself, and despite having lost quite a bit of weight and strength, am almost living a normal life again. I even started back at work (part time) this week, which is a huge milestone, and quite a surprise to most people I mention this to.

    Physically I am doing well. Some of the tumors that were quite large and easy to see and feel have reduced considerably in size. I'm not sure how long these medications will continue to be effective, but for now things seem to be heading in the right direction.

    I have had amazing support from family and friends through this whole ordeal, which I truly appreciate, and to see so many names from my past lives from different parts of the world on this page is really humbling. Thank you all.

    Thank you all for your financial contributions, and for the kind words of support and encouragement. We have a long way to go yet, but it is nice to know there are so many people out there thinking of me and wishing me well. The cost of these medications is ongoing, so I'd appreciate it if you could continue to share this givealittle page.

    Cheers

    Stu

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  • Stu’s Progress

      12 October 2020

    Hi everyone

    I thought i'd write and update you all on Stuarts treatment at the moment but first I would like to say THANKYOU from the bottom of our hearts. The response has been amazing and we have been humbled by your generosity . The tears flowed often reading your words of support and encouragement and again we would like to say Thank you

    Stuart had his first treatment of the ipilimumab and we thought it was going well and although not really looking forward to the next one we just wanted to get on with the treatment . But on Friday 2nd October Stuart had a temperature of 39.7 and we ended up in hospital

    It seems the treatment is working but the cancer is very aggressive and is not giving it time to work ,and has now been put on hold , as you can imagine we were devastated by this

    But it seems we have another avenue of treatment to explore , Dabrafenib and Trametinib these are known as kinase inhibitors and can destroy some types of cancer by interfering with the proteins, responsible for cell growth, work inside the cell . So we hope that this treatment may shrink the tumours and maybe allow us to go back on the ipilimumab

    Of course this again is a non funded treatment and will cost $5,500 per month. So again please share Stu's give a little page as your continued support is truly appreciated

    From Kathie, Stu and family

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