Kristy Brown, Belgravia Leisure’s Head of Communications, along with her family, were honoured to meet His Majesty King Charles III at the Melanoma Institute Australia’s The Poche Centre on Tuesday, 22nd October.
Kristy, her husband Adam and their children, Harry and Gracie, stood proudly as Adam shared his inspiring cancer journey with the King.
Adam Brown, a Stage IV melanoma survivor, has been a beacon of hope, benefiting from ground-breaking treatments at the Melanoma Institute Australia. Under the care of Professor Georgina Long AO, he was the first patient put on a combination immunotherapy clinical trial.
Melanoma Institute Australia shared, ‘The King spent 30 minutes at Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA) where he was given an insight into melanoma early detection, diagnosis and treatment advances by MIA Co-Medical Directors and 2024 Australians of the Year Professor Georgina Long AO and Professor Richard Scolyer AO.’
“I was incredibly honoured to be here today with my family to meet His Majesty on behalf of all melanoma patients,” said Adam. “The ground-breaking work of Melanoma Institute Australia saved my life, and I was proud to be able share my story in front of the world’s media.”
Kristy expressed, “What an incredible experience we won’t forget any time soon. Harry, Gracie and I were so proud to stand by Adam as he shared his cancer journey with King Charles. It meant so much to us to be involved in shining an international spotlight on the incredible work being done by the team at MIA.
“They will not stop until they reach zero deaths from melanoma and we will continue to help them any way that we can,” Kristy said.
Adam first came to see Professor Long in 2014 with melanoma which had metastasised to his lung. At the time, Kristy was eight months pregnant with their first child. Adam was put on a clinical trial of drug therapy and had a complete response. However, Adam’s melanoma returned, this time spreading to his brain.
Professor Long gave Adam immunotherapy treatment and he again had a complete response with his brain metastases disappearing and thankfully, Adam remains cancer free.
Adam and Kristy went on to have their second baby, who they named Gracie Georgina in Professor Long’s honour. Kristy now organises MIA’s flagship fundraising and awareness campaign Melanoma March on the Central Coast.
“I was delighted to see His Majesty today be presented with a gift of an iconic broad-brimmed hat, which puts the international spotlight on sun safety, as prevention is always better than a cure and melanoma is largely preventable by being sun safe,’ Adam said.
Melanoma Institute Australia says, ‘Australia has the highest melanoma rates in the world with one Australian diagnosed every 30 minutes and one Australian dying every 6 hours from the disease. Due to research breakthroughs led by MIA, the 5-year survival rate for advanced melanoma has increased from less than 5% a decade ago, to now more than 55%.’
Belgravia Leisure is proud to support Kristy and her family’s dedication to raising awareness of melanoma. To learn more, please visit the Melanoma Insititute Australia website.
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