Move for Melanoma! 2019

On September 13 – 16, 2019, Save Your Skin Foundation is co-hosting a special Canada-wide fundraising event called MOVE FOR MELANOMA, a weekend-long challenge where teams participate in the activity of their choice (get creative!) while fundraising for the fight against melanoma. Pick your city/community, pick your activity, and ready set go – Get MOVING for MELANOMA!

What is it?
Move for Melanoma challenges all Canadians to reach their own personal movement challenge (ex. walking, running, cycling, yoga, family activities, or other) while raising awareness and funds to support Canadians touched by melanoma, non-melanoma skin cancer, and ocular melanoma.

How to Get Involved
We’re asking all of our close friends and patients to become Team Leaders to participate in Move for Melanoma. Our team will help you organize the event, will create a personalized, easy-to-use fundraising platform just for you, and support you in getting the word out. Anyone interested can check out our customizable fund raising platform OR email our Team Save Your Skin coordinator Taylor Tomko at taylorkathleen@saveyourskin.ca

Fund Raising
Funds raised through the Move for Melanoma challenge will go directly to helping Canadian melanoma, skin cancer, and ocular melanoma patients by supporting the work of the foundation and the patients we help both emotionally and financially, and advocating for all patients to have timely, equal access to life-saving treatments and therapies through health policy work.

Learn more about MOVE FOR MELANOMA – Visit the official fundraising page HERE!

SYSF Teams up with La Roche-Posay Canada at OneWalk Toronto 2018

Last weekend I went for a 15 kilometre walk— as in, 15 kilometres all at once. Two short years ago I could not have done that, being in recovery from surgeries and treatment for advanced melanoma, I was not physically or psychologically capable of such a feat. This year however, I was grateful to walk 15 kilometres (in 3.25 hours!) alongside a team dedicated to raising funds for melanoma research at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto.

I was motivated to join this team this past spring, when our new sponsor La Roche-Posay Canada told me they were doing the OneWalk Toronto 2018, and suggested perhaps I could join them as a representative of melanoma survivors and Save Your Skin Foundation (SYSF). I was thrilled but also anxious about this idea – could I really do it?

We each had a fund-raising goal and friendly instructions to meet at Nathan Phillips Square in downtown Toronto on Saturday September 8, 2018 at 7:30am. Being as I was a guest on the team I didn’t have to do any of the heavy lifting, but I was there early enough to witness the hard-working team at La Roche-Posay (LRP) setting up, distributing sunscreen samples, and greeting walkers with encouraging smiles and high-fives.

I was thrilled to meet some of the folks I had been speaking or emailing with for months – it was so great to put faces with names. I had done events with LRP in the past, but this was a large local project in which SYSF and I both feel quite invested.

La Roche-Posay, with their sunscreen line, is a huge proponent of melanoma prevention, and the partnership we were demonstrating at the OneWalk was that of awareness and education. LRP is also a sponsor of the OneWalk Toronto event and were obviously enthusiastic about being able to bring awareness to sun safety and skin cancer prevention to all participants. They had a shade tent and sunscreen samples and tester bar, as well as their new “My UV Patch.”

My initiation into the team that morning was the presentation of my name tag and lanyard for the walk. I did not expect the rush of emotion when my new friend put my lanyard on me – it was a special coloured one, reserved for the cancer survivors of the crowd.

Not having participated in the OneWalk before, I was unexpectedly dazzled by the supportive community and encouragement to cancer patients and survivors at the event. Everyone everywhere was respectful of and very loving to those of us with the rainbow lanyards.

At one point during the opening ceremonies, the MC asked everyone with a rainbow lanyard to remain standing, and everyone else to kneel on one knee. Our team happened to be at the front near the stage, so when this happened I was glad I had my back to most of the hundreds of people in the square all around me – my tears were flowing at this point – I was so overwhelmed I almost got down on one knee too. I was incredibly humbled by the honour I felt by this moment of silence in cancer survivors’ memory and support.

Team LRP raised over $20 000 for Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, a decent portion of the total raised $4.7 million by 3200 walkers from all over Canada. I could clearly see why the event is so successful; it is very well organized, and cancer patient care is the obvious topic at hand. Princess Margaret Cancer Centre staff and supporters made speeches in the opening ceremonies, and a couple of the Research Team Leads also got up on stage to address the crowd. Overall, it was a fabulous representation of this centre, which happens to be one of the top five in the world for cancer care research and innovation.

Even one of our Medical Oncologist friends and SYSF Medical Advisory Board members from PMH was present – he had done the Friday evening NightWalk – but he came after lunch Saturday to meet with the La Roche-Posay team. I am thrilled to report I got a hug from him; I couldn’t stop more tears when he thanked me for participating in the event. It’s not very often I get to thank him in person for all that the HE does for melanoma patients like me.

I’d like to extend huge thanks to my new friends from Team La Roche-Posay Canada, not only for their warm welcome and hard work at OneWalk Toronto 2018, but also for their dedication to skin cancer prevention and awareness all year-round. I look forward to helping facilitate the initiatives Save Your Skin Foundation and La Roche-Posay will be working on together – stay tuned for updates!

Team LRP with Toronto Mayor John Tory

Team LRP at the Finish!

By Natalie Richardson,

Metastatic melanoma survivor and advocate, Managing Director, Save Your Skin Foundation

Best of ASCO: Montréal!

Updated 3-August-2018: Click HERE to find our full report from ASCO 2018!

***

While we’re finishing up our report on the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 in Chicago, we’d like to share with you some resources about trials that were discussed at an ASCO satellite meeting: Best of ASCO 2018 Montréal, which took place in Montréal, QC on June 19th, 2018. From 7:50-8:20 pm, Dr. Wilson Miller (McGill) gave a talk entitled “Best of Melanoma,” which highlighted some of the notable melanoma studies discussed at the ASCO annual meeting.

For those interested in more ASCO recaps, Oncology Education has posted video resources, including Dr. Jeffrey Weber (NYU) discussing Checkmate 238, Dr. Max Madu (Netherlands Cancer Institute) on the 8th AJCC melanoma staging system, and a roundtable discussion of ASCO highlights with Dr. Marcus Butler (Princess Margaret Cancer Centre), Dr. John Walker (Alberta Cancer Centre), and Dr. Jason Luke (University of Chicago). These videos are available here, though you will need to register for the Oncology Education website to view them.

Below is a list of some of the trials Dr. Miller presented, with links to the ASCO abstracts for further reading:

Abstract number 9501: “Final analysis of DeCOG-SLT trial: Survival outcomes of complete lymph node dissection in melanoma patients with positive sentinel node.”

Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancers Oral Abstract Session (Monday, June 4, 8:00-11:00 AM).

Authors: Ulrike M. Leiter et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_216115.html

The DeCOG-SLT trial assessed whether complete lymph node dissection can result in increased survival compared with observation in patients with positive sentinel node biopsy in a randomized phase III trial. The update presented at ASCO 2018 comes three years after the inclusion of the last patient. After the median 72-month follow-up time, there seemed to be no survival benefit in patients with positive sentinel node biopsy with complete lymph node dissection, compared to observation. More information about the methods and results of the study can be found at the link above.

Abstract number 9503: “4-year Survival and Outcomes After Cessation of Pembrolizumab (pembro) after 2-years in Patients (pts) with Ipilimumab (ipi)-naive Advanced Melanoma in KEYNOTE-006 [NCT01866319]”

Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancers Oral Abstract Session (Monday, June 4, 8:00-11:00 AM).

Authors: Georgina V. Long et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_222303.html.

The KEYNOTE-006, or NTO1866319, sought to establish the efficacy of pembrolizumab over ipilimumab in advanced melanoma. The data includes four year outcomes, long term data for patients who have completed two years of pembro, and data for second course. The results suggest that pembrolizumab can provide durable anti-tumour activity in treatment-naive or previously treated patients. 86% of the patients who had completed two years of pembro were progression free at 20 months. The data suggests that pembro is safe, and can be used as a second-course treatment to provide additional anti-tumour activity. For more information, see the link above.

Abstract number 9594: “Assessing the Value of Nivolumab (NIVO) versus Placebo (PBO) and Ipilimumab (IPI) as Adjuvant Therapy for Resected Melanoma [EORTC 18071]”

Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancers Oral Abstract Session (Monday, June 4, 8:00-11:00 AM).

Authors: Morganna Louise Freeman et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_220221.html.

This study assessed the cost of cancer therapies in the context of clinical benefits. Data from CheckMate 238 and EORTC 18071 (nivolumab) was compared to placebo and ipilimumab in the adjuvant setting for patients with resected melanoma was used to consider the cost for each recurrence-free life month (RFLM) and associated medical costs. They found that nivo has a lower medical cost per RFLM than both placebo and ipi in patients with resected IIIB and IIIC cutaneous melanoma, and has superior drug costs per RFLM relative to placebo and ipi over eighteen months. Data suggests that follow-up will continue to determine the cost-effectiveness of adjuvant NIVO. For methods, results, and outcome measures, see the link above.

Abstract number 9502: “Adjuvant Therapy with Nivolumab (NIVO) versus Ipilimumab (IPI) After Complete Resection of Stage III/IV Melanoma: Updated Results from a Phase III Trial (CheckMate 238)”

Presented at ASCO Annual Meeting, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancers Oral Abstract Session (Monday, June 4, 8:00-11:00 AM).

Authors: Jeffrey S. Weber et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_214567.html.

With a minimum follow-up of 18 months, the initial report data from the CheckMate 238 trial demonstrated that nivolumab had longer recurrence-free survival over ipilimumab in patients with resected stage III or IV melanoma. At ASCO, phase III data with an additional six months of follow-up was reported. With this extended follow-up, nivo continued to demonstrated a sustained benefit versus ipi for patients with resected stage III/IV melanoma at a high risk of recurrence, PD-L1 expression, or BRAF mutation. More information can be retrieved at the link above.

Abstract number 9514: “Phase II Trial of Pembrolizumab (pembro) plus 1 mg/kg Ipilimumab (ipi) Immediately Following Progression on Anti-PD-1 Ab in Melanoma (mel)”

Presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancer Poster Session (Monday, June 4, 1:15-4:45 PM).

Authors: Daniel Olsen et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_215997.html.

This study sought to examine the role of the immunotherapy anti-PD-1 + CTLA-4 combination after the first line anti-PD-1. They are reporting the first potential data examining pembrolizumab + low dose ipilimumab following progression on anti-PD-1. The results suggest that low dose ipi + pembro is tolerable and has anti-tumour activity in melanoma patients who have progressed on an anti-PD-1 immediately prior. For more information on this abstract and ongoing trial, see the link above.

Abstract number 9542: “BRAF/MEK Inhibition in Melanoma Patients with Rare BRAF Mutations”

Presented at the ASCO Annual Meeting 2018, Chicago, in the Melanoma/Skin Cancer Poster Session (Monday, June 4, 1:15-4:45 PM).

Authors: Jessica Cecile Hassel et al.

Retrieved from: http://abstracts.asco.org/214/AbstView_214_226845.html.

This study uncovered efficacy data for BRAF/MEK inhibition, which is standard care for patients with BRAF V600E/K mutated melanoma. The results suggest that patients with tate BRAF mutations often respond to targeted therapy. Less likely to respond to BRAFi monotherapy are patients with non-V600 mutations, but MEKi as monotherapy or combined with BRAFi seems more promising for these patients. For more information, including a data breakdown, see the link above.

We hope this information was interesting and helpful– stay tuned to our social media channels for study news, and our upcoming ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 report!

Reducing Costs to our Healthcare Budget Shouldn’t Cost Canadians Their Lives

You may have read something in the news lately about a move to lower drug prices in Canada. Or you may not. It’s one of those complicated policy issues that is sometimes misrepresented or over-simplified, and can make your head spin trying to understand all the steps, stakeholders and outcomes involved.

On the surface, lowering the price of drugs in Canada sounds like a good thing, right? If it were that simple, we’d say, “Yes, of course!” Unfortunately, there may well be serious consequences to this move. It Is important to consider them before we move forward.

The first thing to note is that the price does not refer to what individuals pay. It refers to what our provincial healthcare bodies pay manufacturers for certain drugs. Last May Canada’s Health Minister announced that there would be a review of how the Canadian government determines the price of drugs, specifically patented medicines such as cancer drugs. That review is now underway with the purpose of reducing public healthcare spending which, again, sounds like a good thing. However, the less obvious result of this move may be that it will hurt patients by delaying and/or reducing access to new and potentially life-saving therapies. Also, drug companies may decide to invest research budgets elsewhere, thus reducing the number of clinical trials available to Canadian patients, either because state-of-the-art standard of care drugs are not available for the trials or because they prefer to invest where it is a more thriving market. Currently, many patients have the valuable opportunities to be treated with leading-edge therapies in clinical trial settings before they become available to the wider public.

While these proposed changes may reduce the price of drugs and therefore costs to the Canadian healthcare budget, it may well also cost some Canadians their lives.

How do we know that? Because we have seen many situations firsthand where critically ill patients could not get a potentially life-saving treatment because it was either not funded or not available in Canada, despite being available in the US or in Europe. The proposed changes may see these situations becoming more commonplace for patients.

A common response to this issue is to place all the blame on the pharmaceutical industry for charging so much for drugs. It is true, many new promising medicines come with a hefty price tag. It is also a fact that developing a single medicine can cost millions, or even billions, of dollars. Governments presently rely on a joint federal/provincial/territorial process to negotiate pricing that they are willing and able to pay for drugs. The point is that patients cannot be held hostage in a price stand-off between our government and the pharmaceutical industry.

Twenty-eight Canadian patient organizations banded together to ask the Health Minister and Health Canada to delay implementing its proposing pricing regulation changes until it held a comprehensive consultation among all parties, including patient representatives, to ensure these changes do not compromise the standard of care. We urge them to work collaboratively to find solutions that will support a reasonable balance between the three federal pillars of health care being affordability, accessibility and appropriate use. Patient groups have recommended eight potential alternative ways to identify and reduce waste in healthcare spending that do not compromise patients’ access to new and effective treatments that often mean the difference between life or death. We hope Health Canada and the federal government listen.

You can read these recommendations here. These patient groups include:

Canadian Arthritis Patient Alliance
Canadian Cancer Survivor Network
Canadian MPN Network
Canadian Obesity Network
Canadian Psoriasis Network
Canadian Skin Patient Alliance
Canadian Spondylitis Association
Centre Associatif Polyvalent d’Aide Hépatite C (CAPAHC)
Canadian Treatment Action Council
Carcinoid-NeuroEndocrine Tumour Society Canada
Cardiac Health Foundation of Canada
Collective Oncology Network for Exchange
Cancer Care Innovation, Treatment Access and Education (CONECTed)
Colorectal Cancer Canada
Kidney Cancer Canada
Life-Saving Therapies Network
Lung Cancer Canada
Lymphoma Canada
Melanoma Network of Canada
Myeloma Canada
Pancreatic Cancer Canada
Rethink Breast Cancer
Save Your Skin Foundation
Schizophrenia Society of Ontario
Sickle Cell Awareness Group of Ontario
Team Finn
The Canadian CML Network
The Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Society of Canada
The Lung Association Ontario

Giving Hope Gala & Auction, May 10th, 2018, Toronto

You can support the work of the foundation and help provide emotional and financial support to Canadian melanoma patients in need by attending our Giving Hope Gala & Auction.

Enjoy buffet-style tapas and served hor d’oeuvres, while sipping on cocktails and nibbling decadent desserts – all while supporting an important cause. The fun will include an interactive photo booth, music, press corner, informative placards, printed takeaways, a goodie bag, and the debut of our new 2018 patient fundraising video.

This one-evening event in Toronto will provide up-to-the-minute information on melanoma statistics in Canada, a recap of sun safety and skin cancer prevention methods and initiatives with our founder Kathy Barnard, the Save Your Skin team, and local stakeholders including physicians, patients, supporters and partners.

This year, over 1,200 Canadians will lose their lives to melanoma skin cancer.

With incidences of this disease on the rise, awareness, education, and patient support are more crucial than ever.

Please help us make a difference.

For 2018 Giving Hope Gala & Auction sponsorship inquiries, tickets or questions, please contact Natalie at natalie@saveyourskin.ca or call 1-800-460-5832

Webinar: About BioSimilars

As a kick-off to our 2018 webinar series, Save Your Skin Foundation presents:

About Biosimilars: What We Know and What We Want to Know

Friday, January 19, 2018 at 1pm – 2pm EST | 10am-11am PST

Presenters: Louise Binder, SYSF Health Policy, Cathy Parker, Director Policy and International Collaboration – Health Canada, and Helen Mai, Policy and Strategy Advisor, CADTH.

This webinar will be a panel discussion on Biosimilars in oncology, the approval process, and the potential policy position for oncology drug reimbursement. Discussion Points will include Health Canada’s review and approval for sale, CADTH’S role in this area and their involvement with pCPA, and potential policy objectives and position for oncology drug reimbursement.

Updated January 23, 2018:

Missed the webinar? Listen to a recording of the presentation here, or view it on our youTube channel here. Also please click here for a page of Resources regarding Biosimilars.

#sunsafechallenge Winner Announcement!

Thank you to everyone who participated in our #sunsafechallenge instagram contest! Here are some of the awesome photos that were shared. Scroll to the bottom to see which post has been randomly selected to win a $100 Shoppers Drug Mart gift card!

And the winner is…

Congratulations, @ramonabietlot!

Save Your Skin and Giving Tuesday

On November 29th, Giving Tuesday is coming to Canada! A compliment to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Giving Tuesday is a day that stimulates the community instead of the economy by facilitating donation to thousands of charities across Canada.
There are many charities worth donating to on Giving Tuesday, and we always encourage helping your community by donating. If you are considering donating to the Save Your Skin Foundation, we thank you– and would like to fill you in a little bit on what we’re up to, and how your money would be used.
First and foremost, the money donated to the Save Your Skin Foundation goes to melanoma patients. The primary goal of SYSF is supporting families during the worst time of their lives; therefore we want the cancer patient and their family to be able to focus on the fight against melanoma, by alleviating the financial strain of cancer treatment. Whenever possible, we offer monetary assistance for transportation, accommodation, and food costs to melanoma patients travelling for trial treatments. Emotional support is equally a priority– Save Your Skin Founder Kathy Barnard is approachable for advice and support from someone who has been through the melanoma journey. Kathy Barnard’s knowledge of the treatment landscape and connections with Oncologists, Dermatologists, and other medical professionals is often helpful to patients who are unsure of how to navigate the medical system, such as finding treatment options and preparing for appointments. We also strive to make our websites Save Your Skin and I’m Living Proof hopeful, informative, and supportive, as the internet is often a discouraging place to look for those fighting melanoma.
The Save Your Skin Foundation represents the patient voice on the national and international level with its presence at conferences and meetings in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Nationally, Save Your Skin regularly meets with government stakeholders, pharmaceutical companies, and medical professionals to bridge the gap between these groups and the melanoma patient. Medical knowledge is further imbued to the patient via our educational YouTube video series, and our Webinars. These webinars feature a wide range of topics and guests, from medical professionals to melanoma survivors, and live recordings of past webinars are available on our website. Further, in 2017, Save Your Skin intends to develop an immuno-oncology network for medical professionals, advocacy groups, and the melanoma patient to further assist the patient in navigating immuno-oncological treatments, a recent and exciting development in the melanoma landscape.
Due to these incredible advances in medical technology and trial treatments in the past decade, we are pleased to report that melanoma survivorship is at an all-time high. From this new group of melanoma survivors, we are learning that the fight with melanoma doesn’t end at remission. Save Your Skin has taken several steps to be supportive of melanoma survivors, including the I’m Living Proof initiative, which allows melanoma survivors to tell their stories and connect with each other, and melanoma patients; we often include survivors in webinars and forums we are involved in hosting; and in 2017, we are intending to launch our Melanoma Survivorship Pilot Project, which will include national media campaigns, a survivorship e-book, a survivor survey and report, and a microsite. We also intend to host a survivorship meeting in the Spring of 2017, to ascertain how the needs of survivors are being met and what improvements could be made.
We’re looking forward to Giving Tuesday, and hope you will consider the Save Your Skin Foundation when you are selecting the charities to whom you will donate. If donating is financially a stretch, you can still participate by volunteering for Giving Tuesday, and tweeting with the hashtag #givingtuesday to spread the word! Thank you for reading, and happy giving!

Donate to Save Your Skin via Giving Tuesday here

GivingTuesday Countdown

Shoutout to Slyde Handboards for Their Generosity!

Blog re-posted from the Slyde Handboard Website, October 22 2016

SLYDE AUTOGRAPHED MARK CUNNINGHAM BOARD RAISES $280 FOR SKIN CANCER AWARENESS

SLYDE HANDBOARDS BELIEVES IN DOING GREAT THINGS, AND GIVING BACK IN BIG WAYS.

Carlos our team rider from Canada recently completed a 365 day watermen challenge. In which he wave rode every day for 365 day without fail.

The challenge in effort to raise awareness and education for skin cancer. The most common type of cancer, and one dear to Carlos’s heart as his father Marcel passed away from the disease.

Slyde alongside Raw Elements USA honored Carlos’s epic effort and his father by auctioning off an autographed Mark Cunningham Handboard & natural sunscreen package, with all proceeds going to Save Your Skin Foundation of Canada.

The auction saw a ton of action with the winning bid of $280 going to South African native Clint Buckham.

Thank you Clint for your generous donation, and everyone who participated.

REMEMBER TO SAVE YOUR SKIN AND THOSE AROUND YOU, APPLY YOUR SUNSCREEN AND STAY PROTECTED BEACH LOVING FRIENDS.

Why Save Your Skin Foundation?

Written by Natalie Richardson

This has been the most exciting few weeks I have had since I was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. I feel an optimism unusual for my character since finding a potentially deadly mole on my hip in April 2014, when my world came crashing down with fear and worry. After surgeries and immunotherapy treatments, my body and my mind were left confused and full of dread.

I remember the exact moment I embarked on the path that would eventually lead me back into a productive life, with hope and determination as my new leads. Though I did not know it at the time, my discovery of Save Your Skin Foundation was a saving grace.

Depressed by internet searches about this disease, I relied solely on the word of my oncologists to guide decision-making in my care. Thankfully, I was fortunate to have an excellent medical team with a finger on the pulse of current treatments and clinical trials. My family and I did seek second – and third – opinions at Centres in Ontario, and I felt as secure as I could possibly be, choosing the course of my treatments with their guidance, via clinical trial.

By randomized-draw chance I received the treatment that I may always credit with saving my life, and I am grateful for that. But to this day I ponder what may have happened had I been on the other side of that trial draw. It bothers me, keeps that fear lingering. Not only fear for myself, but for others who may face the same risks that I have, and may not receive the same care. What if someday, my children were to face this diagnosis and did not have access to treatment?

In researching this question, I came upon a website with a warm first impression and a vastly informative set of links and options. I clicked and read and explored, not once feeling intimidated. I had to know more… the moment was right, and I had stumbled upon the right place: Save Your Skin Foundation.

I called the number, immediately reaching Kathy Barnard, melanoma Survivor, and Founder of this Foundation. Her distinctive voice put me at ease, and we talked about my situation and how fearful and alone I felt. She told me of her experiences with treatments, and I shared mine. She knew my medical oncologist as well as many others across the country, and she told me about new therapies on their way toward fighting melanoma skin cancer.

She determinedly said “You’re going to be okay.” And I believed her. I felt she might be right. She had run the gamut and come out the other side, and she understood what I was talking about.

My loving friends and family had been telling me that I would be all right, but when Kathy said it, it was different. My loved ones wanted it to be all right, but Kathy knew that there was actually a possibility that it WOULD be.

I have since learned that it is this determination and experience that has led Kathy and her family to build an educated team, in the form of a Foundation, to help others in this way. Many patients are touched by the support of this group; many lives are saved.

Emotionally and physically, Save Your Skin Foundation is there for any and every Canadian touched by skin cancer, whether it be a pre-cancerous lesion or a diagnosis of advanced metastasis. They share their experience, they research every medical detail, they work every day to help those in need of support in a skin cancer battle.

Since that day I first spoke with Kathy, I felt safe. I was comfortable looking around her website, watching the webinars and reading the notes carefully assembled. It remains a safe and reliable source of information about every stage of skin cancer.

Having gravitated to it for a year and a half, I have been dedicated to helping Save Your Skin save MY skin! And that of others. We network, collaborate, and identify with each other in a way that perhaps only those in our shoes can understand. It is a community of support available to those who need it.

It is at their invitation that I have had the inspiration to share my story so openly, encouraged in campaigns such as #NotJustSkinCancer and the Melanoma Through My Lens Reflection
Project. They have been a huge part of my rehabilitation, right down to the gentle reminders that I CAN still do the things I feared I had lost after diagnosis.

I feel great responsibility in being able to represent Save Your Skin in these kinds of projects, and at the same time I feel equal duty to represent fellow melanoma warriors, patients, families, and friends travelling their own skin cancer journey.

It’s the least I can do, in return for this gift of support and hope that I have been given. Thank you, Save Your Skin Foundation.

save your skin foundation

Move for Melanoma! 2019

SYSF Teams up with La Roche-Posay Canada at OneWalk Toronto 2018

Best of ASCO: Montréal!

Updated 3-August-2018: Click HERE to find our full report from ASCO 2018!

Abstract number 9501: “Final analysis of DeCOG-SLT trial: Survival outcomes of complete lymph node dissection in melanoma patients with positive sentinel node.”

Abstract number 9503: “4-year Survival and Outcomes After Cessation of Pembrolizumab (pembro) after 2-years in Patients (pts) with Ipilimumab (ipi)-naive Advanced Melanoma in KEYNOTE-006 [NCT01866319]”

Abstract number 9594: “Assessing the Value of Nivolumab (NIVO) versus Placebo (PBO) and Ipilimumab (IPI) as Adjuvant Therapy for Resected Melanoma [EORTC 18071]”

Abstract number 9502: “Adjuvant Therapy with Nivolumab (NIVO) versus Ipilimumab (IPI) After Complete Resection of Stage III/IV Melanoma: Updated Results from a Phase III Trial (CheckMate 238)”

Abstract number 9514: “Phase II Trial of Pembrolizumab (pembro) plus 1 mg/kg Ipilimumab (ipi) Immediately Following Progression on Anti-PD-1 Ab in Melanoma (mel)”

Abstract number 9542: “BRAF/MEK Inhibition in Melanoma Patients with Rare BRAF Mutations”

We hope this information was interesting and helpful– stay tuned to our social media channels for study news, and our upcoming ASCO Annual Meeting 2018 report!

Reducing Costs to our Healthcare Budget Shouldn’t Cost Canadians Their Lives

Giving Hope Gala & Auction, May 10th, 2018, Toronto

You can support the work of the foundation and help provide emotional and financial support to Canadian melanoma patients in need by attending our Giving Hope Gala & Auction.

Webinar: About BioSimilars