5/9/2016 0 Comments Cancer Speech at ToastmastersTonight at Toastmasters 5th September 2016 I presented a speech in the International Contest. Usually I am one not to compliment myself and say I am proud of me but after tonight I do feel proud to have presented the speech I wrote titled '"Cancer'. Even though I should have been working on an assignment for university, I feel that this was important to me so I am glad I didn't put it off and I wrote this speech then present it to Townsville Toastmasters at our annual competition night. Unfortunately there is a time limit on the speech for a 5-7 minutes and I went over the time allowed. The speech I presented is below. International speech contest "Cancer"
Do you know anyone that has been affected by cancer? Or have you yourself been affected directly? There are so many types of cancers, these types vary from childhood cancer such as leukemia, woman cancer such as breast cancer or male cancer, prostate cancer to name only a few. Unfortunately I have now known a few people who have been affected from cancer. One cancer in particular I would like to discuss today and give a brief outline is the skin cancer called Melanoma. When our lives are impacted directly with this skin cancer we then begin to be more aware of the seriousness of this type of cancer. I will also inform you on a patient’s personal fight with Melanoma cancer. Melanoma is a type of skin cancer which is usually occurred by the overexposure of your skin to the sun or uv rays. However there are rare cases of melanomas which can occur in parts of the skin that have not been exposed. It affects the skin at stage one, by moles on the surface of the skin. This is described as when the melanocytes a pigment producing cell, which gives you your skin colour. When these melanocytes form together in clusters they produce moles. These moles then are effected by the uv light and then they become malignant and form the melanoma cancer. Risk factors:
There are 5 stages of melanoma, stage 0 to stage 4. My friend Kelly ended up with stage 4 this stage means the melanoma has spread to distant lymph nodes and organs and unfortunately she lost her battle to this deadly cancer in January of 2015. Rest In Peace Kelly. I didn’t know Kelly’s story in-depth to share with you too much information, but I would like to now share with you my father’s story. My dad, Graham was first diagnosed with skin cancer 2006. He had a bleeding mole remove from his face. Nothing was much thought about it after that, as they thought it was all surgically removed. However it turned out it had gone to stage 4 and was already affecting his organs. In January 2013 my dad had a painful and unbearable pain in his left leg and it hurt more when walking up the stairs or put his full weight on it. At first the doctors ignored him, until he finally had an x-ray where it was discovered he had a tumour in the femur of the top part of his leg and also a tumour in the top lobe of his left lung. Surgery removing the tumour in his leg. He was given a titanium in his leg. However this was not set in place right and caused him grief for a while until they finally gave him a hip replacement and it straightened his leg and gave him relief. His tumour on the lung was treated with a treatment called Yervoy. This treatment went well and the tumour had disappeared. Another tumour was also treated in his spine by radiation and had cleared. Just when he finally thought all was going good, he started to feel unwell again, and hearing a cricket like noise in his head. In January of this year he had a PET scan and it was revealed he had three more tumours. One located in the rear lobe of his brain and two tumours in the left chamber of the heart. This year he went under radiation treatment for the tumour near the brain, it did shrink, but only a small fraction. The other treatment for the melanoma tumours near his heart he received another treatment called Keytruda. Unfortunately this treatment made him very sick and there has been no good outcome from the treatment. The two tumours have now formed into one rather than shrinking. Because the treatment has made him very sick my dad has finally stopped the fight of this deadly disease, and stopped treatment so he can try and live some of his life without being too sick. He is now being monitored by his heart specialist and the oncologist and palliative care team. He says so far so good. I guess this is true he is still alive, but he is very sleepy and the cricket sound in his head is a constant pain. We are having regular family picnics on Sundays to spend as much time with him as possible, as there is no time frame given. Melanoma is a skin cancer and can be prevented, we need to make sure we take some precautions. As the risks factors say,
SLIP on a shirt SLOP on sunscrean SLAP on a hat
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4/9/2016 0 Comments Arts AwardsThis year I entered the 38th Hinchinbrook Art Awards held at the TYTO Regional Art Gallery in Ingham. My first mixed media entry. I usually enter the photography section, but I have been attending private art classes with Dr Barbarra Cheshire for the past few years, who also taught me at TAFE.
I have been keeping up with my art and have learned some new techniques. The section 3 Mixed Media at the Hinchinbrook Art Awards is the section I entered my work into. My work titled 'Heartache' is a self portrait of a photo taken a few years back now and created to go with a series of self portraits with the same style. I hope to have a solo exhibition one day soon with this series. Unfortunately I didn't win this time round but it was a win for me as I accomplished to set out and finish my work and have it handed in on time. Feed back from the judge gave me insight in to why you shouldn't rush your work, and the more time you work on it the better the outcome. |