Patient stories

In early 2017, Dylan was diagnosed with an early stage Melanoma Skin Cancer from years out in the sun without adequate sun protection, playing football, travelling etc. in his youth and 20’s. Thankfully it was caught early and now, Dylan chooses to use that experience as both a wakeup call and vehicle for creating positive

I am Trevor Chaston, a retired farmer but still active on a farm at Benayeo Victoria (just across the border from Naracoorte in S.E. South Aust.) I have been a farmer all my life and therefore have spent many hours out in the sun and in the early years without sun protection apart from a

My name is Ben Kerslake. On the 19th of November 2014, I underwent a scan for a severe headache. I was immediately admitted to hospital when a golf ball sized tumour in my brain and many other throughout my body were discovered. Following brain surgery to remove the main tumour, I was diagnosed with stage

In 2011, 25 year old Emily Clohesy was worried about a mole on her back and went to her doctor to have it checked. It was diagnosed as a stage 3 Melanoma. Emily had to have her lymph nodes removed from her groin and now lives with lymphedema. This is Emily’s account of how her

Saved by a spot-on stranger A tap on the back at the cricket may well have saved Meagan’s Snewin’s life. Meagan, an avid sports fan was at Adelaide Oval in 2012 watching a West Indies Test match with girlfriends when she felt a tap on the back and a male voice said: “Excuse me, I’m

It won’t happen to me. How many times have you said that? How many times have you heard that? We’re not invincible; too often we think we are! So my advice is; know yourself and trust your gut feeling. Listen to your body and for crying out loud if something isn’t right get it checked.

I have an aggressive stage IV melanoma skin cancer which has metastasised to my lungs, bones, liver and lymph glands. I was facing my last Christmas with my young children in late 2013. I have three children – 6, 12 and 14 years old. In January 2012 I had a mole removed and was told

Hi, my name is Claude and in 1999, I was diagnosed with Metastatic Melanoma. The following four years saw 16 secondary melanomas appear throughout my body and each were removed, including 20% of my right lung and a large part of my bowel. It seemed there was no stopping this disease and it was only

I’ll never forget that feeling when I learned I had melanoma. The sun had risen on a beautiful day. I’d gone for an early walk and was back home, freshly showered and, in the bathroom, towelling off, before I hit the road to Sydney, a 3 hour drive away. My husband leant over, looking at

Vanessa McPhee is on a mission to save a life by raising awareness of melanoma. She has started her own Facebook page, A Mother’s Melanoma, to help raise awareness of melanoma.Vanessa did her first Melanoma March in Adelaide in 2015 and with her team, raised over $1000 for melanoma research.   After pregnancy with my second daughter, I