Hi, I’m Brad.
I’m 55, I live in Margaret River — one of the most beautiful places on Earth — and I’m a husband, a dad of three, and a musician. I love my family more than anything, and I’m fighting like hell to stay with them.
Back in late 2022, I was diagnosed with something most people have never heard of: Merkel cell carcinoma. It’s a rare and nasty form of skin cancer. I jumped straight into radiation, then spent two years on immunotherapy that honestly knocked me flat. Working became almost impossible. Just getting through the day was a win.
Then things got harder.
A recent PET scan showed the cancer had spread — to my liver and my pancreas. Stage 4. Terminal. The same scan picked up early prostate cancer too.
And then, almost at the same time, my wife got her own diagnosis: stage 3 breast cancer.
Two of us. At once. With three kids at home counting on us.
I won’t pretend that’s been easy to carry. But our kids? They’re everything.
Our eldest is out there serving in the Royal Australian Air Force — I couldn’t be more proud. Our middle child is at uni doing a double degree in Mechatronic Engineering and Computer Science — absolutely brilliant. And our youngest is in Year 11, grinding through their ATAR with their whole future ahead of them. These three kids are the reason I get out of bed on the days when my body really doesn’t want to.
After the scan results, I went through more radiation, then chemo — etoposide and cisplatin. The side effects are still with me every single day. Fatigue that doesn’t quit. Aching joints. Numb hands and feet. Trouble concentrating. Some days are genuinely brutal. But I keep going, because what’s the alternative?
Radiation has also destroyed my teeth. It damages the protective salivary glands, causing rapid decay, brittleness, and a high risk of infection. Repairing this damage requires extensive specialist dental work, costing many thousands of dollars — far beyond what Medicare covers.
Right now, my medical team is recommending a treatment called PRRT — Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy — at ICON CancerCentre in Perth. It’s targeted, it’s specialised, and honestly? It’s my best shot at buying more time and actually feeling like myself again.
The problem is, Medicare doesn’t cover it. Neither does private health insurance. And after two years of barely being able to work, while also supporting my wife through her own cancer battle, the cost is simply out of reach for us.
That’s why I’m here, asking for help — which, if you know me, does not come easily.
Music has kept me sane through all of this. It’s the thing that reminds me who I am when illness tries to take that away. I want more time to play, more time to watch my kids grow into the incredible people they’re becoming, and more time with the woman who has faced all of this right beside me.
If you can chip in anything — even just $5 — it genuinely matters. You’re not just helping pay for a medical treatment. You’re helping a dad from Margaret River stay in the game a little longer.
Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart.
— Brad Deighton, Margaret River, WA 🎸