It's said that experience breeds understanding, yet what happens when someone who has been in the trenches combatting cancer for three decades gets it himself - just two months before becoming president of a global cancer union?
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For Aussie professor Jeff Dunn AO, he became a more resolved, more determined and more empathetic leader who will stop at nothing to improve cancer outcomes.
On World Cancer Day on February 4, he reflects not only on the milestones achieved so far but what challenges are yet to be faced.
Strengthening resolve
World Cancer Day is important to Jeff as an ordinary Aussie, president of the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC), cancer researcher, and now patient.
Jeff took the president's chair in October 2022, two months after he was diagnosed with Mantle Cell Lymphoma, an uncommon and "potentially tricky" cancer.
"There is some irony that I was just about to take up the presidency of a cancer union when I got diagnosed myself after 30 years of service to the UICC," Jeff said.
"From an academic or scientific point of view, you can empathise when people talk about the uncertainty and loss of control and fear about the future and the physical and psychological disruption that a cancer diagnosis and treatment can cause.
"But to experience it firsthand has strengthened my resolve as president and to ensure that we do whatever we can as an organisation - and for me as an individual - to control cancer and to continue to promote the importance of caring for the patient as well."
Being diagnosed early and treated in Australia's world-class health system reinforced the distressing reality that millions across the world were not so lucky.
Closing the care gap
In 2022, the UICC launched a three-year campaign to close the cancer care gap by creating more equitable access to cancer services globally.
The campaign calls on the cancer community, governments and healthcare providers to take action catering to their nations' needs and to create resources to reduce inequity and improve access to cancer services.
Shining the spotlight on Australia, cancer is the largest disease burden and a leading cause of death.
Our ageing and increasing population - a major cancer control challenge for our nation and many others - have seen cases increase by 133 per cent and deaths by 56 per cent in 30 years.
The good news is cancer survival rates have risen by almost 20 per cent in that time; the bad news is incidence and mortality are still influenced by where we live and what we earn.
Our cultural and ethnic status also impacts our chances of preventing, detecting, and effectively treating the disease.
Witnessing progress
Jeff said Australia had made great progress in tackling those challenges, including the launch of a project led by Cancer Australia to create a 10-year Australian Cancer Plan.
"The plan represents a historical step forward in how we approach the disease, with the early draft identifying priorities and goals for the next two, five, and 10 years," Jeff said.
"It's tremendously gratifying to play a role in leading this work, which gives us a road map for navigating the future, with a vision to arrive at a point where we can significantly lift survival rates and quality of life to reduce the burden of cancer on individuals and the community," he said.
The individual's power
While governments and organisations implement change, the power of the individual to help influence cancer outcomes isn't small.
Whether by looking out for our children's cancer risks, encouraging our loved ones to get checked, donating to a cancer charity, caring for someone affected, or advocating for the attainment of the World Cancer Declaration, we can all make a difference.
"All of us have a role to play in cancer control ... to close the care gap and provide each patient with the hope that all of us deserve," Jeff said.
