Cancer is one of the most devastating diseases that can affect the human body. Unfortunately, it has touched us all in some way or another, either personally or through a friend or family member.

It also affected a pathologist in Australia last year, but he was prepared for the issue. Richard Scolyer had been doing research on melanoma and decided to undergo experimental cancer therapy after he was diagnosed with the disease.

Prof. Scolyer was 56 years old when he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive type of brain tumor. He was also one of the co-directors of the Melanoma Institute Australia.

The Brain Tumor Charity reports: “The average glioblastoma survival time is 12-18 months – only 25 percent of patients survive more than one year, and only five percent of patients survive more than five years.”

The doctor and his team had come up with a significant breakthrough in treating skin cancer. They used a combination of immunotherapy and surgery. There were some patients who were cured using the treatment but it had never been used on a brain tumor.

That is when he decided to test the treatment on brain tumors by making himself the first patient to do so. He used immunotherapy along with surgery, radiotherapy, and a type of vaccine.

On May 13, he went to Twitter to share the latest update about his journey with cancer. One of the posts shows him lying down and the other headed into an MRI scan and sitting on the table while smiling.

He said: “I had brain #MRI scan last Thursday looking for recurrent #glioblastoma (&/or treatment complications). I found out yesterday that there is still no sign of recurrence.

“[…] Thank you to the fabulous team looking after me so well especially my wife Katie & wonderful family!”

The doctor was nervous about his one year scan but was thrilled with the results. We hope that this continues to help people in the best way possible.