Damian Drum (Murray, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My 90-second statement is in relation to melanoma. Australia has one of the highest rates of melanoma in the world. It is the third-most common cancer in men and women, and one person dies from melanoma every six hours.

Emma Jones is an amazing young 47-year-old from Yarrawonga in my electorate. She has had three melanomas removed in the past six years. She is under very close medical watch, because she may develop stage 4.

As a child, Emma was told by her doctors to lay out in the sun to treat her psoriasis, but now, many years down the track, that advice has been catastrophic. But she is not letting this hold her back. She is going to travel to China to raise money for the Melanoma Institute. She is going to join Courtney Stevens, Fiona Stevens and Kerry Babour on the trek of a lifetime along the Great Wall of China, setting off on 14 September and sleeping in local villages to raise money and awareness for Melanoma Awareness Week. This year, it is going to be held on 20 to 26 March in her home town of Yarrawonga. She is encouraging all businesses in the Goulburn Valley to get involved and get on board.

Emma says she intends to turn one of the most difficult periods of her life into a positive. She wants to get fit and healthy again. Her surgeon is extremely excited by this trek. She hopes that she will be saving lives by raising the money through this endeavour. Coincidentally, I had my own check-up two weeks ago, where I had four or five burns frozen off. I will have a little biopsy taken off the lip next week, so that might shut me up for a while. At least you can feel good about the fact that you have been checked out, and I encourage all men and women to get their skin checked out by a local surgeon.

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