10 years Melanoma Free

2024 will mark 10 years since I was diagnosed with and had removed a melanoma. It looked like a simple mole (can you spot it in the photo from only a few weeks earlier?) and was called by doctors as such, but to me, it wasn't right. So I asked for it to be removed. I was shocked when the mandatory testing came back with the diagnosis, and it's still scary to think that had it been left longer, it would have continued to grow and spread.

To celebrate, I am paying money to jump out of a plane on January 2nd 2024, but doing so to raise money for an important cause. Every dollar donated here will be dollar matched by my own contribution*, and 100% is going towards the Melanoma Institute Australia, a Sydney-based not-for-profit organisation dedicated to preventing and curing melanoma. On average, one Australian is diagnosed with melanoma every 3 minutes, and one Australian dies every 6 hours. But the good news is that, thanks to research institutes like this one, the 5-year overall survival rate for advanced melanoma has increased from <10% to >50% in the last decade.

Please donate what you can (remember, I am matching the amount*), but more importantly know your body, trust your gut, wear sunscreen, and get regular skin checks.

*If I hit the $1000 target, I will donate $2 per dollar donation received, but may need to cap it there!

ALSO please don't mention this to my parents.... they'll have kittens about the skydiving bit so I will tell them after the fact.