There is no such thing as “good cancer”. That’s why I started the “My Name is Chris” campaign.

My Name is Chris. And I have cancer. The good kind apparently. That’s what so many people think about Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, that it’s the ‘good cancer’, that I’m somehow ‘lucky’ I got it.

It’s not ‘good’, and I’m not lucky.

I have been fighting this since 2008. 7 years of grueling treatments. Chunks of my life I can never get back and all because I ‘lucked out’ and got the ‘good cancer’.

Before this, I lived a pretty quiet life. I met my wife, Naomi when I was 18 and she was 16. We worked hard, holding down two jobs and purchased our first home when I was 20, and got married two years later. Life was good.

But in 2008 I heard those fateful words – you have cancer. I was 28 and in that instant, I could see everything we had planned being stripped away.

I had several months of chemotherapy, then spent 4 weeks undergoing radiotherapy 200km away from home. I only got to see my wife on weekends. It was hard, tiring and painful. But I got that magical word at my next scan – remission.

9 months later, we got the all clear to start a family. Against the odds, we conceived quickly and Tomas was born in May 2010. Aside from my wedding day, it was the happiest day of my life.

8 months later I relapsed. We were heartbroken.

I began chemotherapy, followed by radiotherapy in Sydney, 600km away – again only seeing my family on weekends.

I had an Autologous Stem Cell Transplant in November 2011, which meant 4 weeks in Sydney. Naomi insisted that she be there with Tomas and I am grateful, as those days were the darkest of my life. I was discharged, but flown back the day after I got home as I suffered a mini-stroke. I made it home Christmas Eve, thankfully with no lasting effects.

18 months later we went through IVF to add to our family. Two days before the egg harvest we were told I once again had relapsed. We decided to continue and do one transfer. If it didn’t work, we wouldn’t try again. Somehow, that one took and Liam was born April 2014.

I was not with Naomi when he was born, I was in Sydney and recovering from a Bone Marrow Transplant. I didn’t get to meet my son until he was 5 days old.

In June we had confirmation I was in remission.

But it wasn’t to last. Just days before Christmas 2014, I relapsed in my left lung. We were told my best option for survival was Brentuximab Vedotin, but it was not on the PBS and is listed as costing over $21,000 per dose. And I needed at least 6.

Within 24 hours, My Name is Chris was born – a concept by a good friend, Alan to give cancer a name and face in order to raise the money needed. The My Name is Chris team is working hard to ensure I get to see my boys grow up.

Currently we are petitioning the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to get Brentuximab on the PBS – it will be too late for me, however we might just be able to save someone else by making it accessible to all who need it.

Raising $120,000 is not going to be easy, but I have an incredible team and an amazing wife who wont ever give up one me. We have a website, a video, a facebook page and a donation page.

But more than that, I have hope.

Find out more about My Name is Chris on the campaign page. You can sign the petition to have Brentuximab Vedotin (the drug used to treat relapsed and refractory Hodgkin’s Lymphoma patients) on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) here.

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