If you’ve ever come across a blog called Dear Melanoma, you’ve probably smiled, laughed and even cried at Brisbane-born Emma Betts’ very candid online diary of the roller-coaster ride of living with terminal cancer.
But despite defying the odds of her 2013 terminal melanoma diagnosis (Emma was told she only had six months to live, but lived on for another three-plus years), sadly, the aggressive cancer has taken her life.
She was only 25 years old.
“At around 11:40 last night Emma peacefully passed away with Serge [Emma’s husband], Tamra [her mum] and I at her side,” her father Leon wrote on Emma’s Dear Melanoma Facebook page yesterday.
“I think my Mum summed things up rather succinctly…Emma achieved so much in 25 years, just imagine what she would have achieved if she lived to a ripe old age!”
And this is no understatement.
Since Emma’s diagnosis (which came after a stranger spotted an unusual-looking mole on her shoulder during an East Timor scuba-diving trip), she worked tirelessly to raise more than $100,000 for melanoma research, launched Love, Emma, a small business that sends out care packages to people going through tough times and constantly advocated the importance of sun safety through Dear Melanoma.
If this doesn’t epitomise the true meanings of kindness and strength, we don’t know what does.
Along with touching the hearts of her 20K-strong Facebook following, Emma is remembered as a loving wife, daughter, sister and aunty by family and friends who stood by her side during her three-year cancer fight.
According to Melanoma Institute Australia, melanoma is a form of cancer that develops in the skin’s pigments cells, also known as melanocytes.
This cancer is said to be the most serious form of skin cancer, and can grow very quickly if left untreated.
On average, 30 Australians will be diagnosed with melanoma every day, and more than 1200 will dies from this skin cancer each year.
Heart-breakingly, young Emma was one of these people.
For more information about how to spot the signs of melanoma and what you can do to help those in need, visit the Melanoma Institute Australia’s website.
