Melanoma survivor shaping Wellness at new Centre
When melanoma survivor Chris Glanville was asked to help plan how the new Paula Fox Melanoma and Cancer Centre could incorporate wellness in a way that was meaningful to patients, he jumped at the chance.
“I know what it’s like to be in that position,” Chris said, thinking back to his own journey with melanoma, which started almost twenty years ago.
“When you’re dealing with cancer you’re really facing your own mortality. You’re trying to understand all this complex information while your body and mind are under enormous stress.”
Chris was first diagnosed with melanoma when he was just 19, after his sister spotted a small lesion on his scalp while they were brushing their teeth.
The lesion was removed, but 10 years later, the melanoma reoccurred in Chris’ lower neck. This time his wife had just given birth to their first child.
“After the second tumour, the outlook was pretty grim,” Chris remembers, now 37 and a father of three.
“It’s really scary. It’s confronting. You’ve received this bad news and you’re trying to absorb everything.”
“At the same time, you’re trying to make a plan forward, and wondering, 'Will my wife be ok if I don’t make it? Will my kids be ok?'”
Chris said sharing a patient’s perspective into how patient-focused areas of the centre, including the home-like environment of the Wellness Centre will look and feel, is important to him.
“I’ve cried in the hospital café, I’ve cried on St Kilda Road, and I’ve cried in Fawkner Park,” Chris said, remembering back to the times he was dealing with his diagnosis at The Alfred.
“Having a space built especially for patients and for what they need – just having a space they can call their own – you can’t beat that.”
To have cancer services in the same building, co-located at The Alfred, provides a level of comfort too, Chris said.
“Time is precious when you’re dealing with cancer. And it’s confusing. Just to know you’re in the right spot for an appointment would make the world of difference.”
“You can never say to someone with cancer, ‘it’s going to be alright’ because you just don’t know that,” said Chris.
“But if you can be there for the patient and you’re putting them first, that means a lot.”
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