Perth grandmother Michelle Slabbert is the very definition of a survivor.
Originally diagnosed in November 2002 with metastatic melanoma on her scalp (the primary was never found), Michelle was referred to an oncologist, however, no scans were ever done.
It was only in 2008 while holidaying in Europe that she noticed a lump in her breast. Michelle assumed it was breast cancer, devastating enough, but was shocked to receive a further melanoma diagnosis and to be told that the cancer had returned.
Only after that tumour was removed, was she sent for her first PET scan which revealed two tumours in the right lung and one in the shoulder, all of which were successfully removed.
Her oncologist then recommended an immunotherapy trial being run at Sir Charles Gardiner Hospital, a suggestion she readily accepted. A routine PET scan the following year then uncovered two further lesions in her brain which were again successfully removed via surgery.
Michelle went on to have six weeks of full brain radiation which caused her hair to fall out but says she ultimately went on to feel fine for some time after.
Three more tumours and surgical removals would follow in 2009 and another in 2011, which was sent to the east coast to have a vaccine especially made for her.
Now nearly 25 years later, Michelle is happy, healthy and tumour free.
Sharing the news of each diagnosis with her children and husband, she says, was one of the hardest conversations of her life.
“My children thought they were going to lose their mother and my husband was expecting to lose his wife,” she explained.
“We have always been a close family and all live within close proximity to each other, but this has definitely brought us closer together as a family and allowed me to enjoy my grandchildren in a way I thought might never be possible,” she said.
“We do a lot for our grandchildren and my husband and I love it. If I wasn’t alive, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy any of that.
She says she is convinced that the clinical immunotherapy and vaccine trial played a significant part in her ability to say that she is a stage four metatastic melanoma survivor.
“I will be on medication for the rest of my life, but I’m alive and living a good life and investment and access to medical research and care has given me that.”
“Every day I wake up is a blessing.”
