Brainstorm by Richard Scolyer

The remarkable story of 2024 co-Australian of the Year Richard Scolyer, and his fight against a diagnosis of incurable brain cancer.

Skin cancer is Australia's most common cancer, and melanoma the deadliest form of it. Together with his colleagues at Melanoma Institute Australia, Richard spent years on groundbreaking research that has transformed even the most advanced melanomas into a largely curable disease.

Then, in 2023, at the peak of his career, Richard was diagnosed with brain cancer himself.

As an internationally respected clinician and researcher, Richard was never going to accept the standard medical approach, unchanged in nearly two decades and offering little more than a year to live. He chose instead to undertake a world-first experimental treatment based on the same melanoma science he had spent his life building. The decision could shorten his life or save it. The one certainty is that it will advance scientific understanding and ultimately help save the lives of others.

"Whether Richard Scolyer has three weeks or thirty years left, his story is a testament to the power of living with boldness, hope and a sense of possibility. Richard Scolyer gives us all hope, not only that we could one day find a cure for brain cancer but also that when life deals us a terrible hand it's possible to respond with boldness and generosity." Leigh Sales