Wollongong researchers investigating why some squamous cell carcinomas spread

But research led by his surgeon, Dr Bruce Ashford, and Senior Professor Marie Ranson at the University of Wollongong, might one day spare others from such an ordeal.

Dr Ashford, Professor Ranson and their team are investigating why some squamous cell carcinomas, or SCCs - a form of skin cancer about 100 times more common than melanoma - will spread around the body and sometimes prove lethal.

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A study they published last year revealed the rate of SCC on the South Coast was exceptionally high: about 856 people per 100,000 per year, rising to 2875 per 100,000 per year among men aged 60-plus.

"The rates were about four times that of any population ever recorded," Dr Ashford said.

He said this enormous burden of skin cancer locally was a driver of this research.

"We don't have all the answers yet, but we certainly know a lot more," Dr Ashford said.

He said the team was looking at mutations in the DNA and had shown for the first time that SCC was the most highly mutating cancer.

They had also found "weird chinks in the armour of the cancer", Dr Ashford said, which they hoped to exploit.

"In time we want to beat the disease on the molecular level," he said.

If the biomarkers that indicate a SCC will spread can be identified, treatment can be better targeted and patients will hopefully avoid the more invasive and often life-altering surgeries and procedures.

Mr Smith, a surveyor who has spent much of his life working out in the sun, has "been through a hell of a lot" since he was diagnosed with the squamous cell carcinoma, which had attached to a nerve in his face.

"It was travelling along that nerve and it probably in a short amount of time... would have gotten to my brain and killed me," the 79-year-old said.

He instead when through a major surgery that involved removing the nerve and tissue in his face and transplanting an artery from his arm to his face, then some 32 radiation sessions which bore their own side-effects, some of which he continues to experience.

Mr Smith still goes to alternating appointments with Dr Ashford and his oncologist every three months to ensure the cancer has not returned.

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Catching any cancer and treating it early, he said, made a significant difference.

"I think it would be just great, amazing actually, if they can achieve that," Mr Smith said of Dr Ashford and Professor Ranson's research.

The research team are taking their findings to the world, presenting at two major international conferences in Rome and Montreal in the coming weeks, while PhD student Ben Genenger is speaking in Turin.

Since they began their research several years ago - first with funding provided by the volunteer-run Illawarra Cancer Carers - they have also published 30 papers.

Both Dr Ashford and Mr Smith hope this story will also serve as a reminder to people about the importance of getting their skin checked.

Dr Ashford encouraged people to get their skin checked, even during the winter months.

Mr Smith, who has had almost 400 cancers removed from his skin over the past 30 years, spoke about his experience to raise awareness of the consequences of skin cancer.

He said many people put off going to their doctor to check out potential issues until they became annoying - by which time, a cancer might have doubled or tripled in size.

"A lot of people have died because they haven't followed up on these things," Mr Smith said.

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