What is a clinical trial? – Participant highlights – Part 2

I was up at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne speaking to my doctors up there, and there was a clinical trial starting. I thought, well, I'll jump at any sort of trials. May not help me but it may help others. I was bit on the whole thing of ‘oh, it may work, it may not’. They were pretty confident that it was going to work from the start. Boosted my confidence levels a lot. The trial that I was in ran absolutely brilliantly. The communication between me and the team up at the RPA was absolutely fantastic. Because it was a success, I go off bushwalking and camping and all that sort of stuff now.

The people involved in the clinical trial are amazing. They’re always so caring and they keep the families involved in what's going on. If there is any questions that do come up outside of the appointments, they're always there. And your nurses interact with the kids as well to keep them preoccupied from what's actually going on. They love their bubbles, so always blowing bubbles for the kids. The most important thing was the support that I've gained through being in the clinical trial.

It's empowering to somebody to know that you're actually doing something positive when you're in a really negative space in life. I just want to help. I just want to do something. I didn't want to own the fact that I was a cancer survivor before, but now I'm like, I'm a cancer survivor and I can do this, and I want to help.

We had discussed the proposal with our GP. We have a lot of faith in him, and we probably wouldn't have participated if he hadn't been supportive. Every three months. Overall health was checked, a blood test taken. Checking blood thinning effect that the drug is meant to achieve. We had access to whoever was needed to give advice about the trial and the potential for a better outcome for all stroke victims or potential stroke victims. If people are in a position to take part in a trial, I would encourage them to do so.

So, you're getting the best possible health care, you know, while you're there and even that is a, I discovered, was a huge advantage because getting like a second opinion for free. It’s actually not a bad idea to get a slightly different view on a couple of occasions that's been quite valuable to me. With a trial they devoted almost to your wellbeing and care, and it's a very supportive and positive dynamic. And of course, because they've got a slightly medical research background, they're great sources of knowledge. So you can ask them about anything. They can talk about what's going on in the field, you know, what are the sort of potential promising, drugs that they're looking at or trials. So you suddenly got access to all this information from people right at the coalface. You come away feeling quite energised by it. You have these opportunities to draw positives, and I think that's what it is. It's, you know, the trial is just a very nurturing and positive environment because, you know, you've just immersed yourself in this community of people who are all trying to help you or help the cancer community generally find improved cures.

Much better than sitting on my backside at home feeling sorry for myself. Some of the best times, or the best experiences I've had have actually been involved in trials. You know, you come away feeling ‘well, that was-I feel good about that’.