It’s Australia that provides Drop 40 hit number nine as they lose the second Australian of the Year in as many weeks. After prominent MND awareness warrior Neale Daniher, it’s time to bid a sad farewell to pathologist and cancer researcher Richard Scolyer.
Scolyer made his name as a leading researcher in immunotherapy alongside his colleague and close friend Georgina Long. They were based in the Melanoma Institute Australia, the country being well known to have some of the worst rates of skin cancer in the world. Such are the perils of centuries of European emigrants wanting sunshine they were genetically incompatible with! Advanced melanoma is one of the medical success stories in recent years, going from a near guaranteed death sentence to being more likely than not to make the five year survival mark thanks in no small part to Long and Scolyer’s work.
Sadly, melanoma seems to have taken this personally and decided to turn to it’s dreaded cousin glioblastoma for a revenge hit. Scolyer received the stage 4 diagnosis in 2023, but he wasn’t about to take the news lying down. With treatment having hit a brick wall for decades with glioblastoma, Scolyer and Long decided to try an experimental course of pre-op immunotherapy, surgery and vaccination. He documented all of this on social media too, earning plenty of fans and international notice that would have been unheard of ten years ago.
He ultimately made it a year past the median life expectancy for his particular type of tumour, and clinical trials into the treatment method are ongoing as we speak. The world loses one it’s most unambiguous “good guys”, but with a bit of luck he might just be taking the poor prognosis of his killer with him. Only time and further research will tell.
In the meantime, let’s turn to the morally depraved degenerates that chose to have him on their teams shall we? Scolyer was a new entry to the Drop 40 this year, his March 2025 announcement of the cancer’s return putting him on thirty-six teams. It’s yet another solid choice for leaders Pretty Noose, who’s ninth hit take them to 114 points as we approach the competition’s midpoint. He was picked by all three of DDP Tofoa, Shaun of the Dead 69 and The Sound of the Underground, who return to joint second after a very brief usurping by Bennington & Speight’s Aerial Silk Workshop. It also puts two former DDP champions into the top 10, with committee members Octopus of Odstock and Banana both scoring.
No, I didn’t pick Scolyer. I would never do such a thing >_>
“It’s an incurable cancer? Well bugger that!”
Richard Scolyer, Drop 40 Joint #37
December 16 1966 – June 7 2026
34 Teams 💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀💀+40 = 12 Points
2 Teams 🃏 = 24 Points