Just a week before speaking to Woman’s Day, Richard Scolyer completed his 250th Parkrun. And as he reached the end of the 5km jog around his local Sydney park, there were cheers of support and encouragement from the large crowd as he crossed the finish line. Not that he needed it.
“I slowed Richard down – he had a spring in his step,” laughs Katie Nicoll, who readily admits to not being an athlete like her partner of 23 years, who is finally feeling well enough to get back to his beloved exercise of cycling and running.
LIFE IS GOOD
“I feel the best I’ve felt in ages, which is terrific. Life’s good. For the last couple of weeks I’ve been able to do things that make me happy,” says Richard who is currently receiving a standard treatment for his terminal brain cancer, meaning he has fewer side effects and more energy. He’s even back at work a few days a week.
And the 2024 Australian of the Year’s happiness is contagious.
“People passing say, ‘Good work, Richard!’” says Katie. “It’s a really nice side of humanity – people are so considerate of him. They’re not trying to intrude on Richard’s time, but they’re just full of such good warm wishes.”
Those warm wishes have been in steady supply since Richard, 58, went public with his June 2023 diagnosis of a stage-four IDH-wildtype glioblastoma brain tumour and that he’d be trialling potentially risky treatments in the hope that future sufferers could benefit from what was learned.
This continual outpouring of support made Richard, a pathologist, feel “joyful and really, really appreciative”.
After initially positive results, an operation in March confirmed Richard’s tumour had returned and the prognosis was poor.
“I go up and down [but] I feel very lucky. That I’m still here and [the treatment] enabled me to get to the place that I am now,” he says.
As well as Parkruns, life at the moment is made up of spending precious time with family, seeing old friends and even enjoying brief trips around Australia, which wasn’t possible until recently because of the high level of brain inflammation he had as a result of treatment.
Richard and Katie recently flew to Darwin, and spent last weekend with Richard’s parents in Tasmania, about which he says simply, “I think all parents worry about losing their kids before they pass. It’s tough for them.”
PULLING TOGETHER
But while these gatherings must have poignant and heartbreaking moments, Richard is enjoying life.
“I’m on a real buzz at the moment being able to do all these things, spend time with the kids, watch some TV at night, which was definitely not my normal before I got sick,” he laughs. That he can’t change the outcome of his illness “annoys him” but nothing’s as challenging as that first gut-punch of diagnosis.
“It’s a tough journey to accept initially and I did have trouble accepting it. That made it hard for the family,” he says.
“I was struggling at times but I feel like since the recurrence of the tumour, the mindset has to change.”
Richard and Katie have been upfront and honest with their three children – Emily, 21, Matt, 19, and 17-year-old Lucy – from the beginning.
“We try not to have any elephants in the room because I don’t think that does anyone any favours,” says Katie, 54. “Nothing’s hidden from them.”
While Lucy is in her HSC year doing a range of science subjects and drama, her siblings are both at university in Canberra and Emily is following in her parents’ footsteps, starting postgraduate medicine next year.
“They’ve pulled together and support each other. All of them have had to step up,” says Katie.
The older two visit home frequently and Richard repeats that now familiar word.
“I feel very lucky to be able to have these special times with my kids,” he says, pointing out how so many others “suffer so much worse”.
FUN & ADVENTURE
Of being awarded the Australian of the Year award alongside his Melanoma Institute Australia colleague Georgina Long, Richard says he feels like an “imposter”.
But he is grateful for the “incredible opportunities” it led to and the other inspiring Aussies he’s met as a result.
Closer to home, Richard’s highest praise is reserved for Katie, who “always has a big smile on her face, makes people laugh and is fun to be around”, as well as being “kind, supportive and way smarter than me”.
For Katie, her list of reasons for loving Richard are exhaustive – his sense of fun and adventure, how kind he is, his joy at connecting with people, can-do attitude and how he finds the positive in everything.
“But I’m most proud of his sense of humanity and decency, and also just what a good father he is,” she says, then adds, wryly, “If it wasn’t for Richard, our kids wouldn’t even know how to swim.”
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