Kate Hager's melanoma story
Posted on Thursday, 16 January 2025 under Health & Safety
Kate Hager, Group Safety, People, and Sustainability Manager at ANZCO Bioscience, was recently diagnosed with skin cancer.
Kate grew up in the sunny Hawke’s Bay, but has lived in Melbourne for 20 years. She’s been getting skin checks on and off since she was 21 years old, and has ramped up to getting annual checks after some family members were diagnosed with skin cancer. At one of her annual checks about 10 years ago, she had a full set of photos for her doctor to use as a baseline and track new moles or any changes.
While on holiday recently, she noticed a new mole on her lower left leg. It looked different from other moles and had an irregular border, so she pointed it out at her annual skin check in October. The doctor imaged it with a portable microscope, and they saw that it indeed looked quite different to existing moles – and distinctly like the examples of skin cancer we're told to watch out for. She had a biopsy, and a little more than a week later it was confirmed it was melanoma. Fortunately, it was stage zero, meaning it was caught early and hadn’t developed much. Later, more was removed from around the site and tested, and it was confirmed that it had not spread.
Longer-term, Kate's annual skin checks will become three-monthly, and she'll do daily skin checks looking for an changes. A melanoma can be a lump, bump, sores, redness or swelling, or just as an odd-coloured patch of skin - and can develop fast - so she'll need to keep a close eye to make sure nothing new develops.
Kate’s doctor also recommended to Slip, Slop, Slap, and Wrap as much as possible, and avoid going outside in peak UV times – that’s between 11am and 3pm. You also may not realise that reflections of sunlight, like from water or concrete, can also causes harm, as can the UV rays on a cloudy or overcast day.
Around 300 kiwis and 1,400 aussies still die of melanoma every year. Anyone in New Zealand can develop skin cancer, but your risk is increased if you have a history of melanoma, fair skin that burns easily, red, blonde, or fair hair, have had bad sunburns, are more than 50 years old, use (or have used) a sunbed or have had high levels of sun exposure, or are immuno-suppressed or use certain medication.
The good news is, if caught early, it’s almost always treatable. Kate’s story serves as a powerful reminder that it’s important to get regular checks and take care of your skin.
Find out more information about skin cancer here.
Find out more information about skin cancer here.
