00:00An IT graduate, Eamon Lyman, had everything to live for, but at 27 came a devastating
00:09blow.
00:10He collapsed at home.
00:11We had nothing to suggest anything was wrong.
00:14The youngest son of four was diagnosed with a glioblastoma, a common brain tumour.
00:20He died five months later.
00:22It's terribly difficult for the whole family.
00:26The grief is just so profound.
00:30I never realised I could feel grief so deep as the passing of my son.
00:36But with grief comes frustration that in the end Eamon's dad, a doctor himself, could not
00:41find a clinical trial for his son, despite frantically trying every waking minute.
00:47But it's just so hard to navigate.
00:50Now here's me, a consultant surgeon, with all my connections, with all my knowledge,
00:58a previous minister of the government, with even more connections, and how tough was it?
01:03It was virtually impossible.
01:06And he's not alone.
01:07So currently if you receive a diagnosis today, neither you, nor your family member, nor even
01:14sometimes your doctor, will be able to find a clinical trial that might be relevant and
01:18appropriate for you to take part in. And nationally, we need to be able to do better than that.
01:22This is despite three government inquiries over a decade calling for a national one-stop
01:28shop for medical research, like this online portal in the UK, which shows every trial in
01:35the country and who qualifies for treatment.
01:37Every drug that we take today has gone through clinical trial. This is the standard way that
01:42we approve drugs.
01:44$18 million has been set aside in last year's federal budget for a design phase of a streamlined,
01:50easy-to-use system. But a fit-for-purpose portal is by no means guaranteed and would require
01:57a lot more funding.
01:58There are many, many people like Miami that would benefit from a clinical trial when their
02:04diagnosis is beyond any normal medication that's available today.
02:08Throwing the spotlight on a heartbreaking issue in a bid to save others.
Comments