Skippy the Bush Kangaroo
What a different but satisfying morning.
I would never have guessed that there would be a connection between that iconic Aussie series “Skippy the Bush Kangaroo” and Lymphoma, but indeed there is.
Again for the younger ones, you may not know what I am referring to so with some assistance from a single source of truth – Youtube refer below if your interested:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCHY6n907OE
I attended my first meeting today of the Australian Lymphoma Society support group – Melbourne chapter. Being sensitive, new age and starved of human contact I thought I would give it a go. With some trepidation I walked into the cafe where the meeting was to be held and scoped it out. If I did not like what I saw I said to myself that I would casually approach the counter and ask in which room the “Family Guy appreciation society” was meeting and then promptly turn and leave as the waitress struggled with my question.
Instead I noticed a sign that directed me to a private room at the back of the cafe. My plan was stuffed, there would be no turning back.
I inched my way in trying to look suitably serious and ill, with a welcoming, but respectful smile.
Beaming to greet me was a face I recognised but could not immediately place. I said, “hello………..Skippy”?
He laughed and said, “yep, Ken James, welcome”
So there you have it. Ken James the Aussie actor famous for Skippy and a range of other Australian shows that escape me has NHL Follicular Lymphoma and as it turns out will be the face of a series of adverstisements planned to help raise awarness for Lymphoma.
Clearly Delta Goodrum was busy.
After a general chitchat we sat down and as it turns out this was the inaugural meeting of the Melbourne chapter. Ground zero. There were 3 “clean and healthy” representatives from the Society and 11 patients in various stages of dealing with this cancer.
As is the norm I guess we all had to tell our story. This was a truly interesting experience and one which I have taken allot from. Hungry for information I listened intently, missed my 11.30am conference call and did not look at Tiny Village on my Iphone once.
8 of the 11 have the same cancer that I have at various stages. Some were in remission, some where in treatment and one was on the same clinical trial that I am on. As there are only 12 in Australia that was pretty lucky so I listened to her story intently and then spoke to her. She was the youngest in the group, only 28 years old. She started the clinical trial in November 2010 and in 3 months the cancer was gone. She is in full remission. She started in a significantly more compromised postion than I as the cancer had progressed to stage 4 and had infected 30% of her bone marrow. My bone marrow is clear and I am stage 3 so this gave me some confidence.
I wont share all the stories but each one enriched my understanding of the disease and I think made me better for it. The eldest in the session I would place in her mid 70’s and she has been ok for 20 years – she was beautiful, squeezed my hand and gave me a reassuring hug.
There were tears, clapping, plenty empathetic nods (even Sneza’s State of the Nation performance would pail into insignificance) and plenty of positive ideas shared.
It was great.
I left feeling pretty good and committed to attend the next one.
My Unplanned Sabbatical 