Perth community raises funds for cancer survivor Pete McCarthy

The well-known Perth man and once West Tamar citizen of the year will go under the knife to have a prosthetic skull implanted after complications from radiotherapy for skin cancer which spread to his nervous system.

Close friends of the McCarthys', Peter and Donna Roozendaal, set up a GoFundMe page which has now received $17,000 worth of financial support from across the country.

Mr McCarthy, who co-founded the Exeter Services and Community Club to assist the people of the West Tamar, said it was astounding to see so many support him in his time of need.

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"It's been amazing," Mr McCarthy said.

"Even yesterday I received a donation from some of the people I'd met years ago at the Exeter Club.

"That kind of thing is wonderful; it's a massive contribution and makes me think about how much of an impact the club must have had for these people for them to help us in this way."

His two-year medical journey - which has, thus far, included 12 operations - began when he was diagnosed with a squamous cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, in 2021.

The first four surgeries seeked to remove the cancer but it had travelled through his nervous system, and Mr McCarthy - who has lived with the auto-immune disease scleroderma, a connective tissue disorder, for 29 years - had to undertake radiation therapy.

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When the radiation interacted adversely with his scleroderma, the effects were devastating - necrosis developed in Mr McCarthy's skull, meaning the bone was decaying and dying.

Excisions, skin and muscle grafts were attempted, but to no great effect, and Mr McCarthy will undergo the 13th surgery - the first of two astounding operations - on July 10 in Melbourne.

That surgery will be a 10-hour procedure that will remove the entire top portion of his skull, leaving him without any protective bone on a his scalp for six months.

For half a year, Mr McCarthy will wear a protective helmet 24 hours a day for his essentially exposed brain, before the 14th surgery where the prosthetic skull will finally be implanted.

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"It's astounding and the doctors, who are brilliant, have a lot that they're contending with," Mr McCarthy said.

"It's surreal, really. They keep chipping away at me.

"It's difficult to think about what the next couple of months will be like, I'm just glad to have my children and my wife, Kim, with me."

Ms McCarthy, thanks to the support from the Tasmanian community, will now be able to stay with her husband while he remains in Melbourne for an extended period after the surgeries.

"It means so much to me and to her; she's far more emotional about it than me," Mr McCarthy said.

"I can't thank the community enough for this support. We're both extremely grateful."

If you would like to support the McCarthy family, do so via the link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/a-little-help-for-a-friend-peter-mccarthy

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