Jenny Day made it her mission to continue fighting after her husband David lost his battle with melanoma last year.
The Leader published an article about the Como father’s battle with the deadly disease in February 2017.
Six months later, he died. But his memory lives on strong, and Mrs Day hopes others can be inspired by his story.
One melanoma patient dies every five hours.
Mr Day inspired his doctor, medical oncologist Ines De Silva, to return to Australia to focus on research into ‘super progressors’, to solve the mystery of why some people do not respond to treatment.
He succumbed to melanoma only eight months after he was diagnosed – just months after the birth of his third daughter.
“It was a week before Christmas and two weeks before our second baby was due,” Mrs Day said.
“The tumour under his arm was removed, but unfortunately about six weeks later another small lump came up, and they found another spot on his hip which put him at stage 4.
“David’s disease progressed at an amazing rate.
“He went from being a strong and fit 33 year-old-man to not being able to get out of bed.”
Since then, Mrs Day has devoted her time to raising awareness and funds for research for melanoma that spreads rapidly.
“It’s so important that we find a solution to this,” she said.
“When David started treatment, I decided to start a blog documenting what we were going through.
“When I look at it it’s a nice treasure of his final few months and how hard we fought.
“It’s something for our kids to look at one day and see what their dad was like.”