Engaging Conversations | Inspiring Dialogue, Empowering Communities
Welcome to Engaging Conversations, the podcast that connects you with the pulse of our local communities.
Hosted by Leon Goltsman, Co-Founder of Ecolibrium Headquarters (EcoHQ), each episode invites you on an inspiring journey into the stories that shape and uplift our neighbourhoods.
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Engaging Conversations | Inspiring Dialogue, Empowering Communities
#18 - Uniting for Melanoma Awareness Through Small Actions with Claudia Tolhurst
Claudia Tolhurst's journey from melanoma survivor to passionate advocate with the Hunter Melanoma Foundation is an inspiring tale of resilience and purpose. Claudia takes us through her personal story and highlights the urgency of raising awareness about this preventable disease. This episode brings to light Bec's heartwarming success story—a testament to the power of early detection after being motivated by a patient story at a fundraising event. We navigate the landscape of skin checks, stressing the importance of regular monitoring through general practitioners, specialized skin clinics, and dermatologists. Claudia offers practical advice to combat the lengthy waiting times for appointments, urging timely actions through a GP when concerns arise.
Scott Polglase's legacy lives on through the Hunter Melanoma Foundation's impactful Five Cent campaign, which has amassed over $80,000 in support of melanoma awareness and prevention. His wife, Kiralee, continues to champion this cause, recently trekking to Mount Everest to raise funds. We outline the foundation's ambitious goals for the next five years, emphasizing initiatives like the Spot Check campaign and education sessions aimed at high-risk groups. Through this episode, we reflect on the powerful combination of small actions and community support, and express our deep gratitude to listeners for helping to spread the crucial message that melanoma is both preventable and treatable when caught early.
Thank you for listening!
Hello and welcome back to Engaging Conversations wherever in the world you're tuning in from. I'm your host, leon Goltsman, and I'm excited to bring you Episode 18. Isn't it incredible how our community has grown, and I can't thank you enough for your continuous support and enthusiasm. It truly drives us to keep spotlighting people and projects that spark positive change. Now, before we jump in, I'd like to give a big shout out to our outstanding sponsor Niaz Cannoth, . As principal and lending specialist and founder of Invest Intelligence, niash focuses on socially responsible strategies, particularly in disability accommodation. Thank you, Niaz, for enabling us to keep these meaningful conversations going.
Leon Goltsman:In this episode, we're revisiting a topic that deeply resonated with many of you earlier this summer melanoma awareness. Backed by popular demand is the remarkable Claudia Tolhurst from the Hunter Melanoma Foundation. The overwhelming response to her first appearance reminded us how vital it is to promote regular skin checks, champion a national screening program and embrace emerging technology that could save lives. With two-thirds of summer behind us, there's no better time to pick up this essential conversation. Claudia's passion, expertise and commitment continue to make her an absolute force in the fight against melanoma. So, whether you're relaxing at home or savouring the sunshine outdoors, grab your sunscreen and join me in welcoming Claudia Tolhurs back to Engaging Conversations. So thank you very much for coming back. I mean the response was fantastic. So many people have responded in such a positive way. So thank you very much for joining us on today's show.
Claudia Tolhurst:It's my pleasure, leon Great, to be here.
Leon Goltsman:Can you just again, for people who may not have heard the first podcast, do you want to just briefly introduce yourself?
Claudia Tolhurst:Yeah, my name's Claudia Tolhurst. I'm the Executive Officer of the Hunter Melanoma Foundation.
Leon Goltsman:Claudia, what drives you personally to continue your work in melanoma awareness and prevention?
Claudia Tolhurst:The thing that drives me personally to raise awareness is A I'm a melanoma patient. I'm a melanoma survivor. I see people and hear stories every single day, horrific stories of people who are fighting this disease because it has spread to their organs and they're fighting for their life. I do this job because we can make a difference and because this is such a preventable cancer. If we can just get the message out, it is so preventable.
Leon Goltsman:Yeah, and we did cover it in the previous podcast. Prevention is better than cure and we've seen the difference it makes. Can you share a success story from your organisation that has a significant impact on melanoma awareness or prevention?
Claudia Tolhurst:Yeah, I sure can, and there are so many to choose from, but one that springs to mind we often do fundraising events at event cinemas at Katara and we show movies and we sell the tickets and we have a raffle. And one of the things that we have the pleasure of doing at those movies is, rather than showing ads before the movies, we can show one of our patient stories. So we have a patient story of a 21-year-old female who found a melanoma on the bottom of her foot we were showing that and a young girl by the name of Bec, who was in her early 30s and has a background of Europe. So her parents were both born in Macedonia. So Bec has beautiful olive skin, european skin.
Claudia Tolhurst:Bec was watching the movie and she turned to her girlfriend that she was there with and she went oh 21,. That is so young. I've never had a skin check. Maybe I should get one. Her girlfriend said I would be happy to book you in when I go for mine and we can go together. So her girlfriend booked them both in for a skin check and little did Bec know she had been living with a melanoma on her scalp, right on her, the line of her forehead, the hairline of her forehead. So she then had that melanoma successfully removed. It was an in situ melanoma, which means it was caught very, very early and on the first layer of skin. But she didn't think that she would have a melanoma ever because she had this beautiful bronzed skin. She always sunbaked, very rarely wore a hat or sunblock. You can guarantee that she now does not go outside without a hat and without sun protection on. So we've potentially saved her life just by seeing that movie and realizing that, hey, this can happen to young people and can any doctor check for melanoma?
Claudia Tolhurst:so your gp should be able to do a check a skin check for you If you go to a specific skin check clinic. That skin check clinic the doctors there are GPs. The advantage they have at a skin check clinic is they're very experienced because that's all they do. They're not taking your blood pressure or refilling your script, they're just looking at skin day in and day out. So they probably have a little bit more experience in detecting things than your GP does, but your GP should be able to do a skin check for you. Your other option is to go to a dermatologist, who also would be more experienced in looking at things at lesions. However, you need a referral from your GP to go to a dermatologist.
Leon Goltsman:So, whichever option they take, it's still taking a step in the right direction.
Claudia Tolhurst:It is Now. The thing is with skin checks. At the moment here in the Newcastle area you could be waiting three to 12 months, depending on the workload of the doctors, to get in for a skin check. So what I tell people is book in for your skin check with your skin check specialist or your dermatologist. If you have a spot that you're concerned about, please don't wait that three to 12 months Go to your GP, ask your GP to do a biopsy and if the biopsy results come back as a melanoma or another form of skin cancer, your GP can then refer you on to a dermatologist or to a skin check clinic or to the melanoma unit where your referral will be triaged and you will get in a whole lot quicker and have that skin cancer treated earlier than what it would be for you to get in and get your skin checked with that doctor.
Leon Goltsman:See, this is very good information. Most people wouldn't know about this. Are there any recent advancements or innovations in melanoma treatment that you find particularly promising?
Claudia Tolhurst:Yeah, there are a lot. So if we go back 15 years, there was no cure for melanoma. There was no treatment that worked for melanoma. So in the last 15 years or so, immunotherapy has been introduced to treat people that have got stage three or stage four melanoma. So there's melanoma that spread to the lymph nodes and spread to the other organs Once it gets to that point. Previously we had no treatment.
Claudia Tolhurst:Immunotherapy, in layman terms, basically tells the DNA that you've got a problem here and your immune system needs to start working. So it actually kickstarts the immune system into treating the disease itself and we're seeing 50% of people respond to that treatment. Of the 50% that respond to the treatment, only 10% are we're seeing a complete cure, but that is a great start. So 10% of the 50% are walking around cancer-free, which is just the best news ever. Researchers are still looking at why the other people, why the 50% of people, don't respond. But here locally, professor Nicola Bowden is doing some clinical trials at the moment and having some great results. The people that aren't responding to immunotherapy she is then treating them with three weeks. I think it is of chemotherapy and they're two chemotherapy drugs that were used for different cancers previously. So using them in conjunction with the immunotherapy and then starting the immunotherapy again is having some great results and of those trials she's had two people that have had a complete response. So we're making headways all the time. So that's for the people that are in those late stages of melanoma.
Claudia Tolhurst:We're also seeing some improvements in the way we diagnose melanoma.
Claudia Tolhurst:So there are some trials going on at the moment through the Australian Centre of Excellence for Melanoma Imaging and Diagnostics, or ACEMID. Now they've got 15 Vectra machines around the country. These Vectra machines are 3D photography and they basically take a photo of you in your underwear and they have the ability, with all these cameras, to zoom in and have a look at spots on your skin and they will circle anything that they think is needing a doctor to have a look at it. But then you can go back in six months and this photography can take another photo of you and it can detect whether there are any changes in any of those spots. So there's some really good things happening diagnostically Now. In the weekend I heard on the news as well that they actually developed a blood test similar to a PSA test for prostate cancer, where, if you have higher levels showing in your blood tests, then there's a good chance that you've probably got melanoma somewhere on your skin. So there are always, always improved treatments, improved diagnosis and things happening all the time.
Leon Goltsman:So we see a nexus between technology getting more advanced to what it can do in the medical industry as well, so obviously it's working hand in hand. So as some other industry is advancing, so is the medical profession.
Claudia Tolhurst:Yeah, absolutely. And the other thing that's a bit of an issue with melanoma is that it's known as a national cancer. It's the third most diagnosed cancer in Australia. So in women it sits behind breast cancer, bowel cancer, then there's melanoma. In men it's prostate, bowel and melanoma. Now those other big four the breast cancer, the prostate cancer and the bowel cancer those three all have screening programs and even lung cancer has a screening program.
Claudia Tolhurst:Now Melanoma doesn't have a national screening program. There's nothing in place for people to go and get a check, especially if they are a high risk patient. So the Hunter Melanoma Foundation is part of a larger group called AMPSCA, the Australian Melanoma and Skin Cancer Alliance, and it's made up of a group of melanoma charities, melanoma organisations, research organisations, skin cancer colleges, and there are 12 members in this group. Now together we're working on a national screening program. So the project's being led by the Melanoma Institute Australia in conjunction with ASMID. So they've been given $10 million in four years to come up with a national screening program. So we're hopeful that within the next couple of years we will see a screening program which will actually increase the number of melanomas being diagnosed. But we're hoping that they're all early diagnosis and we can get them cut out, so it will in turn reduce the amount of deaths by melanoma.
Leon Goltsman:I was going to ask you what some of the biggest challenges your organisation faces in the fight against melanoma, and you've just answered that. Is there anything else you'd like to add to how you might address them?
Claudia Tolhurst:So one of our biggest issues here locally is that we're a local charity and we're a local organisation. We get our funding locally and we spend our funding locally, so we don't get any ongoing government funding. We do get some grant funding from the government from time to time. We did get state government funding for our latest spot check clinic but generally speaking, we're not government funded. So we rely on the community, we rely on memberships, we rely on donations, we rely on gifts in wills, we rely on the public doing fundraising for us and we rely on our own fundraising initiatives to be able to do the work that we do. So it's so important for us to have that funding coming in so that we can then move forward with the programs that we're doing. And we're not asking people to donate $2 million I mean, if they do we'd take it absolutely but we're just asking everybody to give a little bit. We have a five cent campaign that we introduced.
Claudia Tolhurst:About 17 years ago the community lost a young man by the name of Scott Polglaze. Now Scott was 27 when he died from melanoma and it was before there were any treatments available. Scott hated five cent pieces and used to throw them on the kitchen bench. Every time he came home he'd empty his pockets After he passed. His wife kept finding five cent pieces in peculiar places. She folded back the bed one night and found a five cent piece. So she decided to start collecting them.
Claudia Tolhurst:And then in talking to other family members, they were having the same thing happen, having the same thing happen. So they spoke to us and we decided to make these. Give me five money boxes. And we still hand them out at any opportunity we get Now those five cent pieces. People fill their money boxes with whatever coins they want, but generally it was five cent pieces and then they take them into a Newcastle permanent branch and bank them. That campaign over the last 15 to 17 years has raised over $80,000. So when people say to me I can only afford a little bit, we love a little bit because if everybody gives a little we get a lot and we raise a lot of awareness with that money.
Leon Goltsman:So that's honouring Scott and it is heartwarming. It is heartwarming when you hear stories like that.
Claudia Tolhurst:It is. So we still have a connection with the family Scott's wife when he passed Kiralee. Kiralee has moved on and remarried and she has children of her own now, but she stayed connected to the foundation and she and her friend Kylie recently did a trek up to Mount Everest and back down again, and it was all to raise funds for the Hunter Melanoma Foundation. So Scott's legacy will always live on while ever we have our Five Cent campaign and while ever Kiralee and her friends are connected to the foundation.
Leon Goltsman:This is very inspiring and we're going to get thinking about what else we can do to honour Scott's legacy. What are your organisational goals for the next five years in terms of melanoma awareness and prevention?
Claudia Tolhurst:So the goals for the Melanoma Foundation over the next five years are to continue as we're doing now. We're saving lives. Every summer we're saving lives with our Spot Check campaign. So, whilst we have no national screening program, we will continue to deliver our Spot Check campaign. We will deliver our education sessions because we feel like that is a really key part to the work that we're doing to make people aware of how to prevent melanoma and how to early detect something from their skin. So keep pushing that sun safe message and keep pushing that early detection message.
Claudia Tolhurst:We'll continue to come up with new programs based on the data that we receive. So we have a look at the data that's available to us and we say, right, where are the problem areas? So previously we've always had our campaigns based on what is the data telling us. You know, we did a checkmate campaign aimed at men over the age of 50 because we knew that 60% of melanoma deaths were from men over the age of 50. We do our high school campaign and our Don't Get Cut campaign because that was aimed at that 15 to 39 age group, where melanoma is the most diagnosed cancer in that age group. So we'll continue to look at the data. We'll continue to evolve with it. We'll continue to do whatever we need to do until we reach our goal of defeating melanoma.
Leon Goltsman:And we're all in this together once again. So look, thank you so much for your time. Always a pleasure talking with you and I look forward to catching up with you soon.
Claudia Tolhurst:Thanks, leon, and thanks to all our listeners out there, because this really is helping us share that message that melanoma is preventable and treatable if caught early.
Leon Goltsman:And that's a wrap. But before I introduce next week's guest, I want to extend my gratitude to Claudia for shining such an important light on melanoma awareness and reminding us how crucial early detection really is. From Bec's experience catching a potentially life-threatening melanoma in time to Scott's 5 Cent campaign, which has already raised over $80,000, it's clear that small actions can, and often do, add up to create a truly significant impact. A heartfelt thank you also goes out to our listeners who have been supporting Hannah's story and the small steps for Hannah's cause. Your compassion and generosity are helping transform heartbreak into lasting change for families everywhere. I'd like to thank our sponsor Niaz Cannoth as well for making these conversations possible and for championing socially responsible lending strategies.
Leon Goltsman:Now, as we look ahead, I'm thrilled to introduce our next guest, Julian Day, founder of the Consensus Awards more than two decades ago, an initiative that's recognised groundbreaking innovations and propelled now global brands like Atlassian and WiseTech Global to extraordinary success. To quote former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, winning a consensus award was invaluable. It opened many doors for us overseas, created media coverage and validated our technology. At the time, we were going to market, with nine out of ten winners going on to achieve remarkable growth. I can't wait to delve deeper into Julian's journey and uncover how his insights might help transform your next big idea into a world-class venture. Whether you're a business owner, an entrepreneur or simply someone who loves to dream big, this is the episode you won't want to miss. Dream big this is the episode you won't want to miss. I'm Leon Goltsman and I look forward to our next engaging conversation. Until then, stay safe, stay inspired and let's keep making a difference, one conversation at a time.
