Breakthrough melanoma treatment saves grandfather’s eyesight

4 September 2023
Alfred oncologist Prof Mark Shackleton, who saved Geoff's eyesight.
Alfred oncologist Prof Mark Shackleton, who saved Geoff's eyesight.

Blind in his left eye after a stroke three years ago, 70 year old Geoff was fully reliant on his right eye.

But when a tumour was found in his 'good' eye, he feared the worst.

“The doctors told me that the most common form of treatment for eye melanoma was to remove the eyeball, which would have left me completely blind,” said Geoff, a grandfather of thirteen.

“My heart completely sunk and I really didn’t know what my future would be like. I just thought ‘why is this happening to me?’”

His treating team at the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital referred him to The Alfred, where Director of Oncology Prof Mark Shackleton prescribed a combination tablet in an attempt to shrink the tumour, rather than having to remove it.

“When I heard Geoff’s story, I just thought, ‘if there’s even the smallest chance we can save this man’s eyesight, let’s go for it,” Prof Shackleton said.

The medication, which is currently being trialled in a larger study supported by The Alfred, works to shrink a tumour to the point a patient can then undergo standard radiation treatment.

“While we are seeing positive results as part of our research with patients undergoing this treatment whose complete eyesight is not at risk, Geoff is the first patient worldwide for which this treatment has been an absolute gamechanger,” Prof Shackleton said.

“Geoff has a lot of life ahead of him to live, and to be melanoma free while maintaining vision in that right eye is an outcome we couldn’t have been more pleased to have achieved with him.”

For Geoff, the ability to continue enjoying ‘the small things’ is what he’s most grateful for.

“I just love going to watch the local footy and spending time with my grandkids,” said Geoff. “To be able to keep doing that is a miracle.”

cancer
cancer research
clinical trials
melanoma