One of Aesop's most quoted proverb's is "Necessity is the mother of invention".
Australian Professor Richard Scolyer, had a necessity. How to cure inoperable brain cancer. Richard had a seizure leading to the discovery of his tumor last year. Diagnosed with glioblastoma he was told there was nothing doctors could do but try to keep him comfortable during his final year or 2 of life.
Richard said 'bump that'! He had been studying cancer and had already created a life saving treatment for melanoma.He an idea on how to beat this. He would become the guinea pig. Doctors warned this could shorten his life even further but Richard said it's better than doing nothing. Also he felt certain that even if he failed, that it would help discover an actual cure for future patients.
He partnered with another University of Sydney professor, Georgina Long. Together they created a concoction of drugs. Richard became the world's first brain cancer patient to have pre-surgery combination immunotherapy. His doctors were shocked to see it worked!
Georgina thinks thousands of people are about to be cured of this brain cancer. "We've shown that... you can activate the immune system and do it very well and this is now a foundational first step to change the field and the way drugs are explored in brain cancer."