The troubles that come with tanning
Living close to the beach, it's crucial we get the message about the dangers of the sun.
There are plenty of misconceptions about melanoma.
The truth is melanoma can affect anyone who spends time in the sun and most importantly, it's a young person's disease.
Alarmingly, melanoma is the most common cancer in people aged 15 to 40 and according to the Cancer Council, more than 1600 Australians die from it each year.
Every year 135 people are diagnosed with melanoma in the Illawarra, Kiama and Shellharbour, making it one of this region's most serious health issues.
Cancer Council NSW regional programs co-ordinator Fran Horne says it's time for people on the South Coast to take responsibility for their beach culture.
"In Wollongong and in our beachside suburbs, there is a real outdoors mentality," she says.
"Fashion, particularly around the beach, sort of dictates that to have a good tan is something that is attractive.
"We perpetrate what could be described as lies about what is attractive and what's not, so people tend to pursue that tan.
"It's a short-term view of life and we often don't think of the long-term effects of what we're doing in the here and now and their effects on our health."
Horne says every sunburn can do damage, because the skin never forgets.
"Every time that we subject our skin to the UV light, that skin damage is done," she says.
"You might see the immediate effect of it with the red, painful skin, but then it disappears, but actually the damage that it's done remains."
Wollongong Melanoma Support Group facilitator Jay Allen hopes to prevent more young people from becoming a melanoma statistic.
The stage three melanoma survivor, who has taken on the role of Community Coordinator for the Melanoma Institute Australia, says he never would have thought his lifestyle was contributing to a potentially fatal disease.
"To think there was something that was on my skin that turned into a life-threatening situation was pretty scary stuff," he says.
"I used to play football outside, and played all my life but I just didn't know how deadly serious oma was.
"I used to do weights at the gym and wanted to look good and I thought a tan was important.
"I also used to use indoor tanning, and my doctor seems to think that contributed to my disease."
After two major surgeries, including the removal of just under 20 lymph nodes from his groin and a bout of chemotherapy, Allen says melanoma is not a disease that can be "just cut out of your skin".
"In the last six months of 2007 I had a mole on my left ankle that kept scabbing up and bleeding," he says.
"After much persistence from my wife, I eventually went and got it checked, and it turned out to be a melanoma which was 1.95mm deep.
"I had no idea how invasive it could be, and next thing I knew I was booked in to have two major operations, and in the first operation they cut three lymph nodes out of my groin and a wider margin in my ankle where the melanoma was.
"They then found cells of melanoma in my lymph nodes, so I was then booked to go back in for the second major operation and because they found that positive one, they took out another 14 lymph nodes from my groin."
The Wollongong Melanoma Support group offers monthly group sessions for both patients and survivors of melanoma.
Allen said upon his first diagnosis, his own fears and lack of support led to the establishment of the local group.
"When I was diagnosed, for eight months I thought I was going to die and there wasn't much support out there, so I found a few organisations that ran support groups, but there was none in NSW," he said.
"We then started one in Wollongong and I went and did a few facilitator courses with the Cancer Council.
"We sit around and talk about our disease and just help each other cope and that can be beneficial on one's journey."
The Wollongong Melanoma Support Group meets at 37 Five Islands Rd, Port Kembla on the fourth Friday of each month from 6:30 to 8:30pm.
For more information contact Jay Allen on 0430 933 012.
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