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Welcome to our Summer Enewsletter     

 

SUMMER AWARENESS EVENT - Dec 2 and Dec 3
Our much anticipated inaugural Summer Awareness Event was held at Henley Beach and whilst the weather wasn't kind, the event was still a great success.  Instead of marquees and volleyball on the beach with sun safe tips, we were camped out in the Henley Beach Surf Life Saving Club boat shed with scarves and beanies!  Tremendous thanks must go to the club for being so accommodating and rescuing us and our event.
 
Despite the change in format, Molechecks Australia were kept busy with around 150 people over the two days, taking advantage of the opportunity to have a free skin check. Around 40 of those require further investigation or treatment, which highlights the importance of having regular skin checks.

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FRIEND OF THE FOUNDATION – Darren Lehmann
Australian Cricket Coach, Darren Lehmann generously donated his time recently to help spread the sun safe message, highlighting in particular the importance of prevention and early detection as being the key in the fight against melanoma.
 
Filming took place at the iconic Adelaide Oval where we even managed to get a message put on the historic scoreboard.  Keep a look out on our Facebook page for the series of videos he recorded for us.
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MELANOMA AWARENESS PRESENTATIONS
 
We recently had the pleasure of presenting to the Tea Tree Gully Community Men's Shed, where approximately 70 gentlemen listened intently to our very important message. Many of the men were keen to share their own skin cancer experiences and really appreciated the opportunity to chat with our Melanoma Support Nurse. We have since accepted invitations to speak at BHP Billiton, Combined Probus Club of Burnside and the Elliot Gardens Lifestyle Village.  Are you part of a service club or community group that would like us to come and do a presentation?  Or what about in your workplace?  Contact us soon before our 2018 diary fills up!

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MELANOMA MESSENGERS
The success of our Summer Awareness Event was almost entirely due to our magnificent Melanoma Messengers walking amongst the crowd, spruiking the free skin checks and directing people to where we were hidden away in the Surf Club.  We are enormously lucky to have such dedicated volunteers, without whom we could not conduct such important and valuable events.   If you would like to join our team of Melanoma Messengers please become a Friend of the Foundation (fill in the form and tick ‘volunteer’ when asked how you would like to help).

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MELANOMA MARCH – Registrations now open for 2018!

The website is now up and running and is ready to take registrations for our Adelaide March on Sunday 18 March at Henley Square and Mt Gambier on Sunday 4 March at Blue Lake Reserve – melanomamarch.org.au
 
Please feel free to distribute the link to friends and family and encourage them to get on-board. There is a free bandana waiting for the first 1,000 people to register!
 
We also offer an Early Bird discount, so we hope you all take advantage and save.
To simplify things this year, a fundraising page will be created automatically when participants register. It has never been easier to fundraise, so please encourage your family and friends to raise as much as they can. This is our annual opportunity to raise funds for melanoma research so it is very important that we use this event to generate maximum awareness of melanoma and maximum funds to seek out a cure.


So create a team and join us in making a difference. Click here to register.
We'd love to see you there!

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STUCK FOR CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS?
CapHat generously donate $3 to our foundation for each customer that uses the code AMRF when you order your CapHat or Hoodie online. If you would like to see all the latest styles Click Here.   These make a great gift for Dad or that outdoor enthusiast that you love enough to help protect.

Donations in lieu of gifts
Donations are our life blood and enable us to continue the vital work that we do.  We thank those of you who have made a donation this year.   Don't forget 'donations in lieu of gifts' are an increasingly popular option.   If you would like to make a donation as a gift please follow the link
http://www.melanomaresearch.com.au/donations/how-you-can-help.html
Make it a double celebration, a gift that gives twice..... first to your chosen recipient and then to the melanoma patients we are striving to help.
 
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their generous donations this year, and wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and Happy and Sun Safe New Year!

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Research Corner

* HOPE FOR UVEAL/OCULAR MELANOMA PATIENTS:  While skin melanoma is now treated with drugs that boost immune responses,  they have not been effective in patients with uveal or ocular melanoma, which arises from the pigment cells of the eye.  These patients currently have no treatments that deliver a robust survival benefit.  This may be about to change with current trials in the US of IMCgp100 demonstrating durable tumor responses and strong survival rates in patients with advanced uveal melanoma.  

* IMPROVING THE ODDS: The newer immunotherapy treatments have been delivering some impressive results, but not for all patients.  A team led by Benoit Van den Eynde in Brussels is working on the million dollar question, being: "what can we do to improve the proportion of patients that respond to these treatments?" Van den Eynde states "There are a variety of mechanisms of immune resistance that operate in the tumor. This is what we are addressing in our studies."  More information on this can be found here.

*) SURPRISE FINDING IN YOUNG MELANOMAS: Melanoma in young Australian patients aged under 30 has been the focus of studies of Australian Dr James Wilmott.   He recently discovered that 90% of all the melanoma DNA mutations in young patients is caused by ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced damage. Given how young the patients were, some as young as 15 and 16 years of age, this was a surprising finding.  "We didn't expect such a high percentage of young patients to have their melanoma caused by UV damage", says Dr Wilmott. "We didn't think enough time had passed to accumulate so much damage in the genes but it goes to show us how dangerous intense intermittent exposure during your early years can be".
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Should you or anyone you know need support along their melanoma journey, please contact our Melanoma Support Nurse via: nurse@melanomaresearch.com.au or call 
Carrie on 1300 561 313

For more melanoma news, please like our Facebook page   https://www.facebook.com/amrfmelanoma?fref=ts

Thank you!

Copyright © *|2017|* *|AMRF|*, All rights reserved.
* *|Not-For-Profit Charity|*

Our mailing address is:
*PO Box 574 Kent Town DC SA 5071*

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Australian Melanoma Research Foundation · PO BOX 574 · Kent Town DC · Adelaide, SA 5071 · Australia

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