CQ cancer survivor urges others to get checked

SIMON Ruddick shares story of surviving stage four cancer

CHECK-UP: Tricia, Simon and Stephanie Ruddick at the Long Lunch on Friday, November 16. Picture: Jann Houley

SIMON Ruddick has a novel way of explaining to tourists the line of suture marks which march up his chest.

"I tell them about our killer roos, how they jump out of the bushes and attack you," he said during a Long Lunch outing on November 16 at the Red Lion hotel.

"Then I show them the scar."

Mr Ruddick and his wife Tricia were to visit their daughter in Europe three years ago when he went to his GP for vaccinations.

The doctor observed that MrRuddick's legs appeared red and lumpy so he was referred for a heart stress test in February 2016.

"I wasn't short of breath or in any pain so I thought I'd be okay," he said.

But the results were irregular, so MrRuddick was referred for an angiogram in Brisbane during which doctors found his left circumflex artery was entirely blocked.

He was fitted with a drug eluting stent and returned to undergo his cardiac recovery program home in Rockhampton, working hard at the CQUni gym to shed weight and improve his circulation.

"Having jumped that hurdle I figured I'd go for broke," MrRuddick said.

He booked himself for a colonoscopy in June 2016, coincidentally Bowel Cancer Awareness month in Australia.

It is an annual initiative to raise awareness of Australia's second deadliest cancer which claims the lives of over 80 Australians every week.

Tricia, Simon and Stephanie Ruddick at the Long Lunch Friday November 16. Picture: Jann Houley

Its key message is saving lives by getting tested as bowel cancer is one of the most treatable types of cancer if found early.

Again the test results were not good for MrRuddick: he had a lump on his colon which doctors suspected was malignant.

Having been proactive so far, during which he had 30cm of colon removed, MrRuddick told his surgeon: "While you're under the hood, have a good look around."

"Everything that squeaks or moves, the pulleys, the lot, give it a once-over."

It was a "tiny blind pimple", so small it could easily have been overlooked, that gave MrRuddick his worst diagnosis to date: stage 4 cancer.

The malignancy had metastasised from his bowel on a cellular level into his liver.

Even that didn't deter MrRuddick from looking forward to seeing his daughter, Stephanie, in Europe in June 2016.

"I just told them Tricia would have to carry the heavy bags."

Even while recovering from his surgery, MrRuddick was determinedly taking steps to improve his own health.

"I figured the best thing for it was to enrich my blood with oxygen so I set off walking around the wards," he said.

Now that he's finished six months of chemotheraphy, MrRuddick is facing his family's future with optimism and a cracking sense of humour. His last CT scan was clear.

"They say there's 14 per cent chance of surviving stage 4 cancer after five years," he told business delegates at the Long Lunch as he urged them to get tested.

And as for those sutures, "the problem is Aussies don't go for the killer roo story," he said.

Instead of his chest scar, MrRuddick shows them the lumpy tissue where his port-a-cath (implanted venous access system) is positioned.

"I tell them I'm hooked up with the latest, hi-tech, top secret, futuristic gadget," he said.

Originally published as CQ cancer survivor urges others to get checked