Retired Kyneton stock agent John Robson is spreading the sun safety message, after experimental treatment for skin cancer.
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00:00 Now John you had a pretty significant cancer scare, what actually happened?
00:04 Yeah back in 2014 I ended up with a melanoma here that was taken off.
00:10 We ended up having to have a second operation because they didn't take enough margins.
00:15 I was told to have skin checks basically for the rest of my life which I had done.
00:19 Got to 2021, I was lying in bed, scratched my underarm and found a great big lump and
00:27 consequently we went from there, ended up with stage 4C metastatic malignant melanoma
00:33 with cancer in both lungs, 2 in the liver, 5 in the chest, 2 in the lymph glands and
00:39 basically was told that my chances of survival were very small.
00:44 You're still standing, what happened?
00:46 We went on the trial and look he did explain that the trial was going to be very rough.
00:51 The side effects were very ordinary but at the end of the day because of how bad I had it
00:57 we ended up having to have a double shot which lifted the side effects by 85%.
01:02 He said you'd end up in hospital within 6 weeks because of the side effects which I did.
01:07 We went through then and said okay we go through all this, what's my chances of survival
01:12 and they were saying they're hopefully maybe somewhere towards 45% chance of maybe living 2 years.
01:19 So what's your message to graziers, to stock agents, to livestock transporters?
01:25 Honestly to get a skin check these days is so easy, it takes no time, it's so cheap.
01:32 I just think because we're always out in the sun and Kite is not the hottest place in the world
01:37 but I've still got it, it's just so easy to get a skin check once every 12 months
01:42 just so that you know where you're at.