Johnny's brain cancer fight: What's next?
Former Home and Away star Johnny Ruffo has been left reeling after being diagnosed with an aggressive brain cancer at just 29 years old- but the actor is not alone in his fight.
Although not one of the most common cancers, approximately 1600 Australians are diagnosed with brain cancer every year, while about 1300 die from the disease.
Speaking to Be, Cancer Council Australia CEO, Professor Sanchia Aranda gave some background on Johnny’s condition, saying: “The reason it’s a scary cancer is that it’s in a really important part of who you are, the brain.
“It’s why and how you think, and it controls your personality.”
Professor Aranda, who does not treat Johnny but has extensive experience with his disease, says brain cancer is one of the leading causes of death, “particularly in males aged between 30 and 44” adding there’s recently been more investment to try to improve survival rates.
Last week Johnny took to social media to inform fans he’d gone to hospital complaining of a migraine, before being admitted for emergency surgery to have a brain tumour removed.
"So I have the news,” he wrote on Instagram. “It was a bit of a shock and I've got an interesting journey ahead and a bit of a battle. I am starting aggressive treatment for the next few months to fight the diagnosis of brain cancer.
"Please stay positive for me and I’ll try to update you guys on my progress.”
Professor Aranda says it’s common for the serious diagnosis to come as a surprise, as it did for Johnny, because “your brain’s inside your skull, so it’s not something you can see. So that makes [the condition] not like a breast lump where you get a lump.”
The causes of brain cancer have not been determined, but Professor Aranda says symptoms may include headaches, changes in your feeling in your legs and arms, or changes in your walk.
“Sometimes people will have a seizure or a fit as the first presentation,” she adds.
Treatment options include surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
“Radiotherapy is really about controlling that local disease where the tumour was cut out from and chemotherapy looks at controlling cells that might’ve spread out from the brain,” Professor Aranda says.
Treatments for brain cancer can affect “your sense of identity, your memory, your language, your speech and your physical function, depending on where in the brain it is” she says.
Advances in brain cancer survival have been slower compared to those for breast cancer and bowel cancer in recent years, prompting for the Cancer Council to push for more research in this area.
“There are new treatments happening every day, new trials happening every day and I’m sure that somebody like Johnny will end up being treated by the very best people that there are,” she says.
“He’ll have the people surrounding him who will make sure that he gets not only the best treatment, but the best support.”
Johnny shot to fame after starring on The X Factor Australia, placing third in the 2011 series.
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Proving to be a triple threat, he has not only danced and sung his way into the hearts of Australians, but he's shown off his acting chops with a role on popular soap Home and Away.
He played Chris Harrington on the Channel Seven drama from 2013 to 2016.
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