Hawthorn's Jarryd Roughead given cancer all-clear by doctors after melanoma treatment
Updated
Hawthorn's star forward Jarryd Roughead says he has been given the all-clear by doctors after his latest round of cancer treatment.
The Hawks AFL favourite began immunotherapy treatment for cancer in June after being diagnosed with a recurrence of melanoma in May.
It was expected to keep him out of action for 12 months, but Roughead told the AFL club's website that his recent check-up had provided the best news possible.
"I've had a complete response from the treatment so far," Roughead said.
"We had another PET scan two weeks ago and they're going to have to be every three months.
"I was lucky enough to get the results yesterday. Trained in the morning ... and had the doctor's appointment late afternoon yesterday.
"Grant and the team at Peter Mac [cancer centre] gave me the news that I've had a complete response from the treatment so far.
"He's given me the all clear to get back into living normal life and getting back to doing things I want, which is playing footy and living my life."
Professor Grant McArthur from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said doctors were extremely pleased with Roughead's progress.
"The important thing we're finding with these immune-based treatments is that the responses are much more durable than our traditional cancer treatments," he said.
"However, relapses have occurred and so we will be monitoring Jarryd - and other patients that have achieved similar results to Jarryd - regularly with scans even after they have had very good responses."
Professor McArthur emphasised the need for watchfulness from the public when it came to skin cancers.
"We always say that prevention is better than cure, so it's extremely important to protect yourself in five ways - slip, slop, slap, slide on your sunnies and seek shade ... to protect yourself from melanoma," he said.
If there were visible changes in people's skin, they required early attention from a medical doctor.
Professor McArthur said research was ongoing into the effectiveness of immune-based treatments into various forms of cancer.
"We're certainly seeing good results in lung cancer, in kidney cancer, and in various other forms of cancer coming through as well," he said.
"But not all cancers respond to these immune-based treatments, so we definitely need to invest in more research and continue to do more clinical trials."
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