Are you cancerREADY? preparing people before they are patients. Our biggest risk is not knowing what we do not know
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.”
cancer READY
Surviving stage 4 metastatic and terminal cancer is remarkable in itself, it attracts attention from other patients who want to know how they can achieve the same result.
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 does exactly that, it helps make other patient’s lives more liveable and shines a light on what is possible.
A lot of patient suffering comes from not understanding things and the confusion and overwhelm that come from that. So helping people get cancer-ready before they ever potentially become a patient will help alleviate this and potentially contribute to better outcomes and lives saved.
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.”
cancerREADY
Surviving stage 4 metastatic and terminal cancer is remarkable in itself, it attracts attention from other patients who want to know how they can achieve the same result.
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 does exactly that, it helps make other patients lives more liveable and shines a light on what is possible.
A lot of patient suffering comes from not understanding things and the confusion and overwhelm that come from that. So helping people get cancer-ready before they ever potentially become a patient will help alleviate this and potentially contribute to better outcomes and lives saved.
Getting the Workplace
cancerREADY
When I learned that 40% of people are diagnosed with cancer during their working life, I immediately knew that this is where I could help the most. I had acquired a unique set of skills and experience to help get people cancer-ready before the need ever arises and at the same time help those who have just been diagnosed.
Newly diagnosed patients simply do not know what they do not know, yet absolutely must. Awareness leads to preparedness and preparedness creates greater survival chances, meaning more people could return back to their normal lives, communities, and work. For me, this is more than worth the effort!
The cancerREADY program and initiatives that I have developed, provide best-in-class, evidence-based patient education, and support resources.
I tackle this across 4 vital layers
- Mental Health & how to talk about cancer
- Organisational Cancer Wellbeing Culture
- Leadership Cancer Wellbeing Culture, and
- Employee Cancer Wellbeing Culture which includes their family, friends, and colleagues
When it comes to cancer, preparedness provides a distinct survival advantage.
Healthy People
GetCANCER
We are all healthy until we are not and YES healthy people along with doctors, nurses, and scientists also get cancer just the same. We are all in that same boat together, so being better equipped ahead of or in response to an unexpected cancer diagnosis becomes a critical factor in our expected outcomes over a cancer diagnosis.
We do not always have the time to wait for the next big medical breakthrough to arrive, but we can become better equipped with what is available today.
Well-informed patients can more efficiently navigate the challenge of their cancer diagnosis and the health system that serves them. This all leads to better patient outcomes, less strain on the family, friends the workplace, and our overburdened health services.
What is the “Get cancerREADY” initiative?
Better utilization and delivery of best-in-class, evidence based “Cancer and Patient” literacy directly into our workplace and community populations ahead of the steeply climbing cancer curve.
LivedEXPERIENCE
My family experienced the devastating impact of death and cancer at a young age. During a mid-week cricket training session, my father Dennis, who was the coach of a local cricket team, suffered a sudden heart attack and passed away on the cricket pitch at our feet. My brother Graeme and I were in the nets hitting practice shots and Dad was fielding and returning the balls back to the bowlers. At the time, I was 29 years old, newly married to Claire, and expecting our first child. Graeme was 27 years old and Dennis was 52.
Fast forward a few years, Graeme was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma, a rare and aggressive cancer of the bile ducts that impacts the liver, pancreas, and other organs. His doctors had no knowledge or experience in treating this cancer, and there was no information or support available to Graeme to better equip him to combat such a deadly diagnosis. He lost his battle in 2014.
In November 2016, I received almost the exact same diagnosis as my brother. The situation seemed so dire as no one had ever survived this cancer from a terminal stage 4 metastatic setting, in fact, we could find no survivors at all.
I had 25 hours of life-threatening surgeries including an amazing surgical save by Dr. Tom Snow in an emergency aneurysm event. I survived because of the swift and cool-headed actions of my wife Claire and the Gold Coast ambulance which had me on the operating table with only minutes of my life to spare.
Because of their amazing efforts, I survived that day and was able to go on to participate in two international clinical trials led by Dr. Matthew Burge. Medical ref; Keynote 158
Fast forward 5.5 months on my first clinical trial, and I only have weeks or days to live at best when Dr. Burge got me onto a second trial and part of a new medical breakthrough for gastrointestinal cancer patients. I became the second-ever Cholangiocarcinoma patient to fully recover from a terminal stage 4 metastatic setting, via the international clinical trial Keynote 158 and one of the 1% of the 1% of all cancer patients to completely succeed from a Stage 4 diagnosis…continue reading
Patient Pathway & Navigation
My treatment pathway has been meticulously recorded so as to contribute forward to the next generation of patients and patient success.
My cancer challenge and response have uniquely equipped me to help “Know what must be known, in the order it must be known ahead of or from that very moment of receiving a diagnosis.
The experiences I have gained provide insights into developing the “Next-Generation” in Cancer and Patient Response Pathways, that are required beyond the diagnosing physician’s office.
Focus and History
As a Cancer Response Strategist, my focus is to educate and train cancer navigators in the workplace to become first responders to an unexpected cancer diagnosis.
I accomplish this by utilizing the “MASTERING CANCER IN THE WORKPLACE” program provided by cancerREADY.
Overall my focus is on better utilizing and delivering current cancer and patient literacy to those most in need. By doing so, I hope to help reduce unnecessary and avoidable cancer deaths.
I provide services to Industry, Cancer organizations, and Cancer focus groups, including working with pharmaceutical companies that support initiatives to better equip and empower patients.
Global patient mentor and coach able to simplify and communicate the benefits of molecular (genomic) profiling, immunotherapy & targeted interventional treatments.
Other Projects
- Patient Audit project: Aa I am regularly asked to audit patient records looking for red flags (what may have been missed) and then forming new question sets and strategies for the patient to move forward – Status – Active
- The Second Opinion Project: Status – Active
- Open Patient Project: Patient-Centric Data Collection – Status – planning
Positions
- CEO Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia
- Director Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation New Zealand
- Director The Main Beach Foundation (Putting community responsibility back into cancer)
- Founder The Cancer Toolkit –
- Founder cancerREADY program
ContactME
For toolkits, courses, and modules, please contact me to have a chat and discuss how I may be of help.
Steve
- +61 415 153 522
- steve@steveholmes.net.au