Richard Scolyer Has Died

(bbc.com)

45 points | by nicwilson 5 hours ago

5 comments

  • ainiriand 2 hours ago
    As a brain tumor survivor I count each day as a blessing. I was diagnosed at 14 and your chances are slightly better as a kid. Even then it came back at 16 again but now I do not even do checks anymore and I am 44 now.

    People like Dr. Scoyler or my own doctor are always in my heart, we owe them so much.

  • dsign 2 hours ago
    I have a habit of reading obituaries and of getting a small reprieve when the cause of death is not cancer. I have the feeling that, for something that kills one in four people, we should be doing more as a society, and not leave the problem to a small group of people desperately fighting in the shadows. Thank you for your service, Dr. Scoyler.
    • onion2k 1 hour ago
      One of the reasons cancer kills 1 in 4 people because we've eradicated lots of things that killed people before they were old enough to develop cancer. If we ever manage to cure cancer (or some cancers, because it's a taxonomy rather than a thing) then people will die of something else. No doubt we'll then wonder why we never spent enough effort curing whatever that is.

      There will always be a reason why people die, and it will never feel like we're doing enough.

      • lukan 1 hour ago
        "because we've eradicated lots of things that killed people before they were old enough to develop cancer"

        The other reason might be, we introduced lots of new cancer inducing compounds.

        Also cancer is very complex and a broad term. "Solving" it likely requires solving the human body first, as in understanding every mechanism to the finest details.

        • inglor_cz 52 minutes ago
          To add something, glioblastoma multiforme is really weird and our understanding of it is severely limited.
      • dsign 1 hour ago
        > There will always be a reason why people die, and it will never feel like we're doing enough.

        That's the best of humanity: love for fellow human beings, and a desire to preserve life. And seeing that we live in an inconceivably vast and empty universe, I see nothing wrong with the idea.

  • inglor_cz 2 hours ago
    This is the news I was afraid of. I followed his uncertain path since the beginning.
  • nicwilson 5 hours ago
  • GreenSalem 4 hours ago
    Glioblastomas have a poor 5 year survival rate.

    The poor man was made into a local Australian celebrity by the media.

    • stephen_g 2 hours ago
      > The poor man was made into a local Australian celebrity by the media.

      I wouldn't say that's quite what happened - I mean, he was explicitly trying to use his profile to raise awareness for brain cancer research so was very public with the progress of his experimental treatment!