Steve shares his knowledge, experience, and wisdom to help better equip and empower your capacity to mount a robust and effective response to a serious challenge.
steveHOLMES
2 brothers diagnosed with the same aggressive terminal cancer and 6 months to live.
“Steve survived, but Graeme did not. Steve’s survival became a modern-day medical breakthrough that provided a new doorway to how patients can better respond and survive a serious cancer diagnosis.”
Surviving stage 4 metastatic and terminal cancer is remarkable in itself, it attracts attention, and therein lays a new unexpected responsibility.
Cancer patients suffer a lot, that’s what it is to be a patient, so anything that I can do to alleviate that suffering is a good thing, a positive thing, a meaningful thing. Sharing my story, knowledge, experiences, and wisdom in the best way possible does exactly that, it helps make other patient’s lives more liveable and shines a light on what is possible.
cancer READY
I find a lot of patient suffering comes from not understanding things and the confusion and overwhelm that comes from that. So helping people understand their diagnosis and options is a good start to improving their survival chances.
I have also learned the advantages of becoming cancer-ready, just as CPR awareness and basic knowledge can improve survival rates.
steveHOLMES
2 brothers diagnosed with the same aggressive terminal cancer and 6 months to live.
“Steve survived, but Graeme did not. Steve’s survival became part of a modern-day medical breakthrough, providing a new pathway for how patients can better respond to and survive a serious cancer diagnosis.”
Surviving stage 4 metastatic and terminal cancer is remarkable in itself, it attracts attention, and therein lays a new unexpected responsibility.
Cancer patients suffer a lot, that’s what it is to be a patient, so anything that I can do to alleviate that suffering is a good thing, a positive thing, a meaningful thing. Sharing my story, knowledge, experiences, and wisdom in the best way possible does exactly that, it helps make other patient’s lives more liveable and shines a light on what is possible.
cancerREADY
I find a lot of patient suffering comes from not understanding things and the confusion and overwhelm that comes from that. So helping people understand their diagnosis and options is a good start to improving their survival chances.
I have also learned the advantages of becoming cancer-ready, just as CPR awareness and basic knowledge can improve survival rates.
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I am currently cycling the equivalent of Australia’s coastline to raise funding for the development and delivery of Free Patient Navigator Journals. Imagine pedaling the entire coastline of Australia – that’s 14,000 kms. Ouch! It’s a pretty challenging effort, but one with a purpose far greater than the distance.
UPDATE: I am now at 6150 km approaching Broome in WA
Bold Deliberation and Persistent Creativity
When Responding to Cancer, we must act with bold deliberation and persistent creativity, be open-minded, and act with unrestricted willingness. These are the attributes that drive the perseverance and endurance needed to flip cancer on its head and break its grip.
Who I am
My Story
From healthy cyclist to terminal cancer patient with just days to live, then back to cycling 400kms per week, and pioneering a new integrated patient-led era in cancer response.
One moment I was fit, healthy, and cycling, the next, I was battling terminal cancer. A routine Saturday morning coffee ride turned into a fight for my life when I was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma and given just six months to live.
As it transpired, my passion for cycling carved out a path through decisions and connections that ultimately saved my life. I endured 25 hours of multi-organ surgeries, including a major aneurysm, and 2.5 years of intense drug infusions. A last-minute ‘Hail Mary’ pass from my oncologist, Matthew Burge, involving a highly speculative experimental drug trial, Keynote 158, flipped my certain death on its head. Against all odds, with no evidence or proof of success, and weeks if not days to live, I caught Matt’s pass, scored a touchdown in just three days, and by the ninth week made history by achieving a ‘full and complete’ response—a feat never before achieved from such a late-stage, stage 4 Cholangiocarcinoma setting.
With Claire’s help, I had defied the impossible, flipping ‘Cholangio’ on its head to record a historic medical milestone – a dynamic ‘full-and-complete-response’ something never before achieved from such a late-stage setting.
I learned through hard, harsh experiences that often my only option was to keep leaning into life, hence my saying, ‘Lean into life, or life will surely lean back even harder.’ Additionally, I embraced the mantra ‘Eat Lite – Move Lite – Live Light, Be Open – Be Willing Without Restriction and Be Creatively Persistent.’ I realized that both are processes; I simply had to become aware of that.
What I Do
OCRP:
The Optimal Cancer Response Process: An initiative that goes beyond mere patient involvement by implementing a higher level of integration. It represents a comprehensive fusion of medical science, evidence-based medicine, best practices, and human resilience capabilities, marking a fundamental shift in perception and action when responding to a cancer diagnosis.
Cholangio
The Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia is patient-led and positioned to provide patient-integrated support, response solutions, and education to patients, their medical teams, supporters and the industry that serves them.
cancerREADY
An extension of the OCRP principles, the cancerREADY initiative is proactively positioned to provide readiness, response, and support solutions in the workplace before they are needed. This strategic approach enhances early detection efforts and actively counters the risks associated with late-stage cancer diagnoses.
Update: Significant Breakthrough
Summarizing My thoughts
Empowerment Requires Unrestricted Willingness:
My journey is rooted in the belief that empowerment is the key to transformation. By empowering both the patient and caregiver, we’re not just providing a path and tools; we’re offering a new perspective on how to respond to cancer. Viewing the diagnosis for what it truly is—rather than what is feared—positions individuals to actively engage in a structured process that dismantles the cancer challenge into manageable steps.
Providing a systematic methodical approach fosters an ordered mindset, pivotal for endurance and perseverance. It aligns perceptions with actions, emphasizing the importance of each step in the journey rather than fixating solely on the outcome. It’s a strategy designed to reduce harmful distractions and maximize empowerment as each step seamlessly follows the next. This process-driven approach is soothing providing the clarity and resilience needed to respond and succeed
The Essence of My Contribution
What I undertake today is the embodiment of that “something special” Dr Matthew Burge referred to when he informed me I was NED. Contributing to the empowerment of others, offering them the tools and knowledge to face their battles, stands as the ultimate reward and purpose of my efforts – a heartfelt thank you to Matt.
I sincerely hope that my personal experiences can drive and shape innovation and change in healthcare, that improves patient outcomes by today’s measure.
The future of CANCER
Empower the patient – Increase Survival: Empower their entire support community – Exponentially Increase Survival – Is that too simplistic?
The Empowered Patient stands uniquely positioned and equipped to understand, engage, and ultimately succeed. They hold the power to influence and reshape both science and healthcare, leading to increased survivorship and reducing financial burdens both privately and publicly. This approach is a common-sense strategy, effectively bridging the critical gap between the success of early detection and the dire statistics associated with late-stage diagnoses.
Guiding Thoughts
RealityCheck
HEALTHY PEOPLE GET CANCER TOO; We are all healthy until we are not.
None of us can predict when we might face a cancer diagnosis. Even healthy individuals, including doctors, nurses, and scientists, are not immune. That’s why being well-equipped with knowledge and resources (The Cancer CPR) becomes a crucial factor and advantage if we are ever unexpectedly diagnosed with a serious cancer.
Life, Science,and Certainty
There is nothing in life or the science of life that is not vulnerable to being knocked off its precarious pedestal of certainty. The only certainty in life is that there is no certainty, just obstacles and their possibilities. Therefore, the opportunity within life is to see the possibilities within the obstacles and then set about making them our reality.
It is our Choice
When you believe in cancer’s reputation more than you believe in your ability to respond and overcome it – which will triumph?
Changing the Angle of Attack
Shifting Perceptions: Changing the Angle of Attack
To succeed over cancer is to dismantle the diagnosis, to strip it of its reputational packaging, to see it as it really is, not as you fear it is. It is only then that you will be ready to effectively respond.
Follow the Process: The Process methodically breaks the cancer down into small, winnable pieces. It keeps you focused on conquering each step in front of you now – today, removing the disempowering distractions posed by the enormity of the challenge. One step seamlessly follows the next wearing down the cancer’s defences until they are no more – until cancer is no more.
Shifting Perceptions:
Seeing through the reputational packaging of cancer, peering past the packaging to its center to uncover its vulnerabilities and your opportunities and possibilities at its core. If you don’t look, you won’t see!”
I Have Cancer I Am Going to Die
A crucial distinction: “I Have Cancer” is an objective fact. In contrast, “I Am Going to Die” is very subjective, a borrowed opinion, not a fact. It does not factor in the capacity of a well ‘Equipped and Empowered Patient.’
When diagnosed, it’s critical to see a cancer diagnosis as it is, not as you fear it is; being diagnosed is just a position, not a fate. This clear view unleashes your courage to act on what’s controllable and accept what isn’t. That is when you’re truly ready to respond.
You must quickly move to accept the things you cannot change, have the courage to change the things you can control and change, and possess the wisdom to know the difference. You cannot control that you have cancer, but you can control how you will respond.
Shakespeare said, ‘Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.’ Our perception and the stories we tell ourselves determine whether it’s a good story, a bad story, or no story at all.
I recall Theodore Roosevelt’s words, “We must all wear out or rust out.” I choose to wear out. This mindset powered my response when given just weeks to live.
All this is simple, but not easy. It takes practice, persistence, perseverance, and a disciplined focus that comes from taking full responsibility. We as patients must think differently, we must have creative persistence and we must hold our poise and grace – our nerve.
To repeat how I began this page: We must Act with Deliberation, Boldness, and Persistent Creativity: We all have the ‘Inner Will‘ and ‘Freedom‘ to choose these innate attributes at any moment, it is up to us – it is an indisputable right that only we can relinquish. ~ All the best, Steve
My Challenge
Separating the lessons learned from the emotions that encapsulated them has been a significant challenge. Initially, I sought to detach them for clearer communication. Yet, I realized that these emotions are not just carriers, but integral components of the lessons themselves. My challenge now lies in sharing these intertwined experiences in a way that offers tangible benefits
ContactME
For more information please contact me
Warm Regards Steve
- +61 415 153 522
- steve@teddermain.com
- Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia