Young melanoma survivor

Regan is 20 years of age and has had a melanoma removed.

REGAN:

When I was growing up I noticed a bit of a mark on my cheek. I didn’t think anything of it.

When I got to high school it sort of got a bit more noticeable and people were like, ‘Get that piece of dust off your face’. But it wouldn’t rub away. It was there permanently. Just a mole that I thought was nothing.

Yeah, if you drew it on a ruler it wasn’t big. But hold it up to your face, well its half your face.

After I got it out I had to wear tape over half of my face, which didn’t do much for my confidence either. That had to happen for about two months. It also covered half my hairline as well.

I got the mole cut out and not positive that it was a melanoma. It was just for biopsy and just to test what it was.

We got the call within two days and went into the doctor. We sort of sat there and he told me I had a stage two melanoma. Mum and I just burst into tears.

When I was diagnosed with melanoma I was 17 years old. I was about two months out of year 12 and two months from starting uni. So, just at the time when I was about to step out into the big wide world, and I had no idea what was happening.

I went to the cricket one year and people sat in the sun with no shirts on and you could see them turning red. I just wanted to yell out to someone, ‘Grow a brain’! When you try to get people to put sunscreen on and they say no, I get so frustrated with some people who just don’t care, they say ‘this will never happen to me’ and that’s exactly what I thought and what many people still think.

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