Emma Wulczynski's Biggest Morning Tea

He tried so hard to beat this cancer; he stopped eating lollies and did everything he could to try and be here with us as long as he could which included taking an insane amount of tablets every day - which he hated, but he had lots of plans so tried to stick around.

He always wore a hat and stayed out of the sun but a mole on his head that he always had,  had changed and became bad. This was his initial spot of melanoma.

His initial treatment did work and we got a couple of years before it came back. It had unfortunately become metastatic melanoma of the brain. At this point, there aren't many options to help. He had radiation everyday for two weeks in the start of January. He had no side effects besides just being a bit tired. You wouldn't have even been aware that his cancer had come back.

One day in February, he just started getting words confused, he was still physically okay but just had the wrong words coming out. He ended up in the Lyell Mac four days later and passed away shortly after.

His words getting confused and his passing happened in less than two weeks.

He wouldn't want to be remembered in sadness. He would want people to be aware of how bad and how fast this can all happen.

A lot of people will just say "it's just skin cancer. It's not too bad", but so many melanoma cases spread to the brain and treatment just doesn't work well in the brain. A lot of people would be lucky to get any years after this stage.

We'd like more awareness for skin cancer.

Even if it isn't super sunny, wear a hat; even if people call you a nerd, always 'slip, slop and slap'. 

We live in a country with a high UV index. It can happen to anyone. Make sure to keep your skin safe and get your moles checked out -  a small discomfort may save your live.