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Since 2018, Australian Communities Foundation fundholder, Peter Mansell, has dedicated his time to raising awareness of the importance of skin checks.
He does this for a very personal reason: Peter’s daughter Morgan Mansell passed away after a short battle with melanoma. She was just 25 years old.
Hoping to spare others the pain of losing a loved one, Peter opened the Morgan Mansell Fund with Australian Communities Foundation and created Check4Spots Day; a day designed to encourage Aussies to get their skin checked for suspicious-looking moles and freckles.
Image: Morgan Mansell. Photo credit: Don’t MS With Morgs.
Speaking to Today Extra, Peter said Aussies have a “she’ll be ‘right” attitude but stresses the danger of sunburn and the necessity of skin checks.
“Melanoma is the most common cancer in young Aussies aged 15-39, and if you were sunburnt on more than five occasions or just one serious sunburn when you were younger, your chance of skin cancer more than doubles later in life.
“After the long hot holidays, grab a partner, check for spots – look for any new spots or changes to existing spots, and check for spots in hard-to-see areas that you can’t see yourself, like your scalp, back, and soles of your feet,” Peter said.
“You know your body better than anybody else, if you see any changes to spots, go and get them checked out.”
To raise awareness of Check4Spots Day, Peter usually takes on a physical challenge – last year he participated in Moomba’s Birdman Rally, while this year’s endurance test saw Peter take on a bed of nails.
Image: Peter Mansell taking on a physical challenge to raise awareness of skin checks. Photo: Youtube.
“This year I made a bed of nails, and then another bed of nails to put on my chest – then got sandwiched between them.
“I had some bricks smashed on my chest – the nails left a grid of puncture marks on my back but drew no blood, thankfully. I put the video on Youtube, and if you watch the clip it’s quite clear what the link between Check4Spots and what I’ve done is.”
You know your body better than anybody else, if you see any changes to spots, go and get them checked out
Peter hopes Check4Spots Day – held every 30 January, on Morgan’s birthday – will take off nationwide. He also encourages anyone with the means to support the Morgan Mansell Fund; the fund he set up in her honour.
The Morgan Mansell Fund supports organisations researching cures for melanoma, MS, and other rare diseases, such as CTLA4 deficiency, of which Morgan also suffered.
You can donate to the Morgan Mansell Fund here.
To learn more about opening your own fund, click here.
