THREE years ago Melanie and Craig Jeffree were elated with the discovery they were expecting their first child.
Weeks later, their joy quickly turned to disbelief when Craig was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer.
"He had a small amount of pain in his right leg and thought that he'd injured himself somehow so he went to see a physio, but it wasn't doing anything to help,'' Melanie recalls.
The day after his 27th birthday Craig went to see his GP. She didn't think the problem was as simple as it seemed and ordered a full-body bone scan.
"A week later Craig was told he had a rare form of cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma,'' Melanie says.
The tumorous cancer attacks the bones and soft tissue.
"It came as a massive shock. We just didn't know what the future would hold. But it all happened so quickly that there wasn't much time for emotions.''
Within three weeks Craig underwent surgery to remove cancerous growths from his leg, followed by a course of chemotherapy.
"They took out the affected piece of tibia and put a donor bone back in. He was in hospital for about 10days after the surgery but he recovered quite well. After two days they had him back up walking again. But he's been on crutches since then.''
Despite the surgery and chemotherapy the cancer returned.
"It had come back and had spread to his lungs. So he went back to chemotherapy, on a much higher dose than last time.''
Unfortunately, the aggressive treatment was not successful and Craig was left with no choice but to trial a new clinical drug.
"He couldn't have any more chemo because he had already had the highest dose and it didn't work,'' Melanie says.
"The trial uses a different type of drug to the chemo, it only attacks the tumour cells.''
The first trial, conducted last year, was of 100people worldwide. Phase two has so far attracted 35worldwide, but doctors are still unsure of whether the drug will be successful.
Melanie says the clinical trial is Craig's best chance of survival, "even though they can't tell us what that chance will be. It is a bit unnerving when you ask a question and the doctor's response is 'I don't know'''.
Craig will have to wait another six weeks before he can find out if he is responding to the treatment.
During Craig's fight for life it would have been easy for Melanie to become stuck in the role of permanent carer,
but she says that instead of falling into a heap, the experience motivated her to give something back to those who have given her so much.
Last November, Melanie started Hope Helps, a group which raises money for the Ontrack@PeterMac program and other cancer research organisations. So far the group has raised more than $5000, but Melanie has big dreams of transforming it into a fully-fledged charity organisation.
She is looking for donations of goods or services which can be auctioned or raffled at the group's upcoming fund-raising events.
Anyone who can donate towards the fund-raising event can contact Melanie at www.hopehelps.org.au or melanie.jeffree@gmail.com
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