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Thanks to the support of the Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation, 21-year-old Martina Duleska’s life was turned around with access to a non-PBS drug to manage a severe side effect from her treatment for Stage III melanoma.

The last thing most 21-year-olds expect to hear is that they have cancer.

With her olive skin and no family history of melanoma or other skin cancers, they certainly weren’t the words university student Martina Duleska thought she would hear from her specialist after discovering a small, itchy, and raised bump on her lower back.

Having just started her university studies Martina’s life changed in a nano-second when she learned she had Stage III melanoma.

Reeling and in complete shock, Martina was referred to Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) to start a year-long course of immunotherapy infusions. This treatment can have life-changing results for patients like Martina with a high risk of advanced melanoma.

However, not everyone responds well to the treatment and side-effects can occur. For Martina, everything was going well until a few months out from her last scheduled infusion. She developed colitis, a debilitating inflammatory bowel side effect, which caused Martina abdominal pain and sapped her energy at a time when she needed it most. The impact on her daily life was significant.

‘After managing so well for so long, ‘I suddenly had to change everything in my life to cope with the colitis symptoms – my diet, my daily routines, and my job were all affected.’

‘I became a recluse and I felt totally incapacitated. I just wanted it all to stop.’

Martina was already on drugs that worked but she needed something that was faster acting to get her on her feet more quickly. There was such a drug, but the only problem was the cost – the drug was not subsidised on the PBS. It was beyond the financial means of a university student and part-time pathology lab assistant.

Martina felt dismayed that access to this drug had to be delayed because she needed to save up for months to be able to afford it.

But Martina’s dismay quickly turned to relief when she learned Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation may be able to help fund the cost of the drug treatment.

With her application for funding approved, Martina started the treatment and the results were immediate.

‘My colitis symptoms literally disappeared overnight. Since the treatment, I haven’t had any problems at all. I could now do my daily tasks and didn’t have to worry about my diet. My body went back to normal – it was such an amazing feeling.’

One year on from her treatment, Martina is considering undertaking a PhD with aspirations to work in cancer research. Her social life is full, and earlier this year, Martina ran MIA’s Melanoma March community fundraising event in Wollongong.

‘If it wasn’t for Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation, I would have been waiting much longer for this colitis treatment. I knew this drug could potentially give me my life back, but it was financially out of reach for me.’

‘Thanks to them, I didn’t have to delay treatment for months and could start living my life again far sooner than I had ever hoped.’