After seeing her father take his last breath, one Wagga woman is determined to raise awareness and funding in the battle against melanoma.
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Jay Allen is walking from Adelaide to Sydney in his Longest Melanoma March campaign to raise funds for the Melanoma Institute in the search for a cure.
Wagga women Tegan Nash, Natalie McDermott and Annette St Clair are walking with Jay in Tarcutta on May 4.
"I am very passionate about this cause, I want to educate people into getting their skin checked," Ms Nash said.
"I lost my father in 2015 to stage four metastasised melanoma and he was a well-known tradie here in Wagga."
Ms McDermott was diagnosed with stage two melanoma in 2013, putting a halt to her efforts to start a family.
"They removed three lymph nodes and it hadn't spread which was good," she said. "I needed six-monthly monitoring.
"At 18 months, I went for a scan and they found a 20-millimetre mass in my left lung so I had that removed."
Ms McDermott said they removed the lower left lobe of her lung and since then she has had multiple moles removed.
"I still go for six-month checks," she said.
"I still think we have a long way to go in terms of raising awareness."
Ms Nash said a lot of people also don't realise that melanoma can be hereditary.
"My sister and I have to go for checks every six months," she said.
"Watching my dad taking his last breath was hard, I don't want anyone else to have to go through that."
Annette St Clair will be taking on three days of the walk from Albury to Tarcutta.
"I have been preparing," she said.
"I am nervous because I don't like to give up but I think I have prepared enough.
"We will be averaging 40 kilometres a day."
After her daughter, Amie, died from melanoma six years ago, Mrs St Clair and her husband established a trust for others in her situation.
"We have known Jay since 2010 and we want to help him find a cure," she said.
"This is my way of being able to give back and raising awareness and funds.
"We want a cure."
The three women stressed that people should get their skin checked and take their skin health seriously.
Mr Allen kicked off his walk on March 31 at Henley Square in Adelaide and will walk 2000km via Melbourne, Canberra, Wollongong to finish 50 days later on May 19 in Sydney.
He was 32 years old when he was diagnosed with melanoma and 10 years on is determined to do his bit.
For more information and to support the cause go to www.melanoma.org.au/news-events/events/jays-longest-melanoma-march/.
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