Hi Dave

How wonderful it is that you are trying to create awareness about this horrible disease. I was just talking with my dentist the other day and he said to me there is no clear explanation why this type of cancer is affecting younger people who do not fit the 'typical' OC patient profile. He also mentioned that he has seen more women who are in their late 30s/early 40s present with OC in the last few years and he was at a loss as to why this was the case. Most were HPV negative (myself included).

I am finding that in Australia there is no media coverage or any kind of public awareness dedicated to OC apart from the occassional ad that shows the correlation of smoking and OC. I am so glad that you have chosen to make a difference and I wish you all the best in your endevours to change this situation. You are an amazing young man!!

Liza

Hi Dave

Good luck getting through your treatments - inpsirational.... and good luck with the 7pm project -i'll watch out for you!

Re your tattoo - enjoy the session(s)! I never thought to get a tattoo, probably for two reasons - one's on my neck and the other is on my arm. Two healthy looking scars that seem to do a good job of telling the story themselves!

Cheers
jon

Thanks Lizzy.
They may not be able to explain it, but the changes in the disease need to be learned not only to those who may pick up the disease, but local GP's who now know that a young person can get the disease (however unlikely). Both are very important. I've never seen anything about it in the news here either. So i'll hopefully get across to someone. I'm sending through the emails tomorrow to radio stations, tv show, etc. I think sending it on a Tuesday may be better than a Monday, because everyone will be busier after the weekend. If i don't hear back from anyone i'll look at other ways to get across though.

Hey jonp. Cheers ! It'd be great to get the story on the 7pm project. Even if it's only a short part of the show. I'm sure they could do alot of good with even a short mention of the disease. I'll let people know on here if I make any progress with any stations, etc.

Those scars do a good job of telling the story don't they I guess i'm aiming for what got me through my battle. (family, friends, my love of football (soccer), music, etc) I'll only go ahead if i get a design i love and i won't have it in a place seen too often. We'll see what happens hehe
Thanks for the msg/reply,
Cheers!
Dave

Ok, so i've just made some progress. My letter is 800+ words, and there's 5 photos attached.

I've emailed plenty of different tv shows, radio, and a few newspapers. The list I've emailed so far is-

FREE TO AIR:

The Today show, Sunrise, 60 minutes, 7pm Project, A Current Affair, Today Tonight, ABC Health & Wellbeing

RADIO:

Nova, B105, Triple M

NEWSPAPERS:

Courier Mail, Daily Telegraph

OTHER:

news.com.au


That's my list of email recipients so far. I'm pretty happy with the layout of my word document and the photos came up good. hopefully someone will pick it up and put something out there.

That's just the list I could think of at the time. If anyone has any advice for who else i should send it to, please let me know because i'm sure i'll think of a few more and i'll keep sending them out.. There's also the option of mailing letters to tv stations individually (Ten, nine, etc). I'm wondering if sending a letter is a better option than email? I guess i'll wait and see, and if i haven't been contacted this week, i'll send letters out to the stations. And i can send through some of the the brochures OCF sent me when i bought a couple of shirts recently!

Any advice is much appreciated.
Cheers,

Dave

That's awesome!! Hope you hear back from them all

Cheers Cheryld!
I've recieved one reply so far. From the ABC show 'Health & Wellbeing'.

It's the show that is likely to have the lowest viewer audience though from the list.

I've started a thread about this in the Activism part of the forum.

http://oralcancersupport.org/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=135875&#Post135875

Cheers !
Dave

Dave, way to go!!!!!

You are doing a great job at trying to educate not only the public but the medical community.

That's awesome Dave...

I don't think i want to see myself on tele, otherwise I'd say count me in!!!

So you're a music nut too?

Oh and my original message was meant to say "congrats" on getting through the treatment - not good luck!

Hey dave so good to hear that you going so well after treatment and its so good that your getting the message out after reading about it seems that for a disease that if found early the prognosis is excellent i had seven mets in my neck so i was very lucky and its so disgusting that there isn't way more info and ads pushing early checkups like they do with other issues so here's to getting the message out there i was 42 when diagnosed with scc of tonsil and your young age so the demographic would suggest the need for govt action so keep it up look at the response to sbs doco on refugees and the abc is a start.
much love and peace.

2.5yr surv scc tonsil
mets to neck
teeth out
pegin/pegout
35rads/3chemos
keep on,keeping on

Cheers Christine

Hey jonp. This one i'm doing a write up for isn't on tv unfortunately. It's more an article write up to put up on a website promoting healthy living. But it's a start ! I'm into a bit of music. My brother is very talented, me not so much. But i do love listening to music. I mainly listen to older stuff. I love Queen, The Beatles, Kiss, Cold Chisel, Farnham, etc. Music is a powerful thing. It played it's part in my healing process post surgery.

Hey malo. Thanks for the support. Doing my bit to get the message feels like the least i can do. It's my way of giving back to those people who helped save my life. Hopefully i can play a minor role in helping others.

Small steps, will hopefully lead to something bigger. And we can keep spreading the word.