Martin Fisk OAM, CEO of St John Ambulance ACT, was diagnosed with an advanced and aggressive form of prostate cancer earlier this year.
This month, while he undergoes treatment, Mr Fisk and his family are taking part in the Long Run – 72 km of walking, running or cycling throughout September – to raise $20,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.
The funds aim to support specialist nursing, patient information guides, and medical research. Donations can be made via the Long Run website.
“The Prostate Cancer Foundation will be supporting me, and thousands of men and their families like me, through dedicated specialist nursing support and information,” Mr Fisk said. “It would be a good thing to be able to give back to these people that have helped us, and are helping thousands and thousands of men right across the country right now.”
Mr Fisk’s specialist nurse, Cassie, is funded by the Prostate Cancer Foundation.
“I can’t sing her praises highly enough,” Mr Fisk said. “I’m on three separate treatments all at once; clearly, they have side effects and interactions. She knows all of the different treatments and how they interact. She’s the one that pulls it all together from a nursing perspective. She interacts with the specialist doctors – the two oncologists and the urologists that I have – and with the other nurses. She organises things. She provides information and research if I need it.
“When we first presented at the Cancer Centre in Canberra Hospital, we had no idea what we were going into; she sat down with me, and then she sat down separately with Sandra [his wife], and just took us through the process. She advised what was likely to happen, both physically and, very importantly, mentally.”
Mrs Fisk described Cassie on Facebook as a “constant source of hope”.
“She has walked with us through radiology corridors, answered every question, and offered comfort on the toughest days.”
Donations would help “keep nurses like Cassie supporting families through the hardest moments of their lives”, Mrs Fisk said.
“Every waiting room is full. Every family is carrying a story like ours.”
The Foundation also provides comprehensive guides to the treatments for prostate cancer, whether it is slow-growing or aggressive, early stage or advanced; and sponsors and funds research, Mr Fisk said.
“It might not be helpful for me, but it’s going to be helpful for younger people who might need it.”
Prostate cancer is Australia’s most commonly diagnosed cancer: around 79 men are diagnosed with it every day, and one in five men will be diagnosed with it by the age of 85.
It is also the second most common cause of cancer death in men: nearly 4,000 deaths every year. Mr Fisk’s own father died of prostate cancer on Mr Fisk’s 41st birthday. His future father-in-law died of prostate cancer within six months of Mr Fisk and his wife Sandra beginning their relationship.
September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Men aged 50 to 69 should have a blood test every two years, and men at higher risk from the age of 45.
Mr Fisk urges men to speak to their doctor about testing; if the result is abnormal, they can be supported and treated. At the moment, the Prostate Cancer Support Group – ACT Region says, only 36 per cent of men are diagnosed with prostate cancer at Stage 1 when the disease is easiest to treat.
Unlike many prostate cancers, which grow slowly, Mr Fisk’s requires immediate intensive treatment involving radiation and hormone therapy.
“It was clearly a big shock when we got the news,” Mr Fisk said. “It’s not something that you get one result, and everything is then mapped out for you. There’s a significant period of uncertainty while you need to get more tests and biopsies, and the news kept getting worse and worse for us.”
But Mr Fisk is optimistic.
“Now we’re in treatment, things are looking significantly rosier, which is great. Prostate cancer is well known in the community, and the outcomes for patients are improving all the time…
“Everybody at the Canberra Hospital – the specialist nurses, the nurses, the foundation Rise Above – is doing everything they possibly can to get me through the treatment and hopefully out the other side, and live a reasonable number of years after this one.”
Mr Fisk said being diagnosed with an aggressive cancer gave him an opportunity to look at what was important in life.
“I gotta tell you: things aren’t important – people are,” Mr Fisk said. “Relationships, relationships, relationships. Being grateful for what you have each and every day, even if it’s difficult – and perhaps especially when it’s difficult. The side-effects [of the treatment] are starting to build for me, which makes life a little bit uncomfortable, and it will be increasingly uncomfortable. But you can still take pleasure every day in little things.
“For me, it’s accepting that I’ve got cancer, but also trying whatever I possibly can to live as normal a life as I possibly can. Walking every day is something I’ve always enjoyed, and so I’m keeping that up.”
Mr Fisk tries to walk at least 5 km every day as part of the Long Run.
“I don’t always get there because both the drug treatments and the radiotherapy cause fatigue – but most days, I’m walking around Lake Tuggeranong [or] Lake Burley Griffin,” Mr Fisk said.
The morning of the interview, he walked around Lake Tuggeranong with a friend; watching the morning sun come up over the water was “absolutely beautiful … a wonderful experience”, Mr Fisk said.
Mr Fisk was previously CEO of Menslink for more than a decade, deputy chair of ACTCOSS, and CEO of Project Independence.
Real estate agent Christine Shaw said she didn’t hesitate when she saw the Fisks’ request for a donation.
“Martin is so very loved in our community, not only because of how many people he has helped while at Menslink and now St John Ambulance, but he is an outstanding human who wakes up each day continuously giving. He shows such incredible leadership in his current journey, and is still thinking of others.”
