I was diagnosed with stage 4 Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma on May 1, 2023. The primary tumour is involved with the blood vessels in that area and I have metastases in my liver- so surgery was not and is not any option for me. I had experienced abdominal pain for about a year prior to that; something that was diagnosed as a number of incorrect things over that period.

Treatment in that time was the usual frontline chemo of FOLFIRINOX, which was brutal and didn't work. After four rounds of that I know that many people around me felt I may not have long. Oddly, even though they were entirely right to consider that possibility, I never felt that at that time. I switched to second line chemo- Gemcitabine/Abraxane. Which did hold the cancer stable for a while- a year or so- but 23 rounds of that definitely took a toll on my immune system and other things- including my bank account as this chemo isn't paid for by Te Whatu Ora. But that's perhaps another story...

It was during my time on Gemcitabine that I read Jane McLelland's book, How to Starve Cancer and that had a profound effect on me. I began to question everything about 'Standard of Care' treatment. Not in a way that invalidates its value but in a way that considered other ways to fight cancer alongside it- the so called Integrative way. And so I did everything I could- repurposed drugs like metformin, many, many supplements and vitamins, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, high dose intravenous vitamin C, meditation, exercise, diet and so on.

I have also incredibly lucky. My oncologist here in Auckland had worked at Peter Mac in Melbourne- a peerless centre for cancer treatment. She contacted her former colleagues and identified a drug trial that would be pertinent for the specific genetic mutation of my cancer- KRAS G12D- the gene that had been hitherto classified as 'undrugable'. This was, and is, breakthrough stuff. And so I now go to Melbourne once a month where I'm checked over and given my pills.

And so, for now, I'm fit and well and a full time Dad to my 10 year old son. The cancer is still there, and the treatment will cease to work at some point but with an open mind, positivity and, most importantly, agency in one's own care, I'm certain I'll find the next thing to keep me alive until such time that they find an absolute cure for this damn thing.