‘My children would have lost their mum’: The reality of finding out you have melanoma

What should have been Daniel Powell’s first Father’s Day with his newborn son was railroaded by a shock cancer diagnosis.

Aston was only seven weeks old when Daniel’s wife Hayley noticed a mole on her back was changing in shape and colour.

Within days of seeing her doctor, she had evasive surgery to remove the mole and still has a scar that you could easily mistake as a shark bite. The evidence of having lymph nodes removed too are almost negligible.

By the next Father’s Day the couple was starting to hope that the cancer was gone for good, and by the time Aston was five, and his sister Trinity was seven, they were given the all-clear.

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But it returned with a vengeance in 2018, and the immunotherapy that saved Hayley’s life and beat melanoma a second time has also left a life-long legacy of pain, immobility in her hands and other health issues.

Which is why the Christchurch couple is so passionate about warning people that melanoma isn’t trivial, and it isn’t always as easy as getting it cut out and you’re sorted.

“I was absolutely shocked by the devastation that melanoma brought to our family. I didn’t realise that the seriousness of the disease or the consequences of cancer,” Daniel says.

So this Father’s Day Aston and Trinity are giving their dad an entry into Round the Bays, New Zealand’s largest fun run, as the March 2023 event will help raise funds for the official charity, Melanoma New Zealand.

Today they will focus on something positive about the skin cancer, setting up a fundraising page as part of doing the event, and also devising an 8.4km route they can do in the Garden City using the Round the Bays virtual app.

“I’m absolutely for any activity that supports Melanoma New Zealand”, Daniel, 52, says. “We should be able to manage that easy.”

Hayley says she felt like she had won Lotto, after the cancer returned – “because it was only a lump on my leg that had spread to my spine and my lungs. Melanoma tends to gravitate towards liver and brain,” she explains.

“I was in so much pain as one was pressing on my spine. I started immunotherapy. I had 21 infusions, but I had to be pulled off due to side effects.

“The immunotherapy is an amazing science that I am thankful for, it saved my life.

“It activates your immune system to fight the cancer, and it does it incredibly successfully, but they can’t fine tune it to only fight the cancer and in some cases it starts attacking other parts your body.”

Hayley got colitis, high blood pressure, alopecia and neuropathy in her hands and feet as a result of immunotherapy.

“I don’t have any feeling in my fingers and rheumatoid arthritis in my hands. I’ve been on steroids now for three years and can’t come off them. My adrenals aren’t great either.

“It’s absolutely the price to pay and it saved my life so I have no right to ever complain. It just an inconvenience. What was the alternative? My children would have lost their mum.”

Aston and Trinity are well aware of the importance of being sunsmart – wearing sunscreen, a hat and sunglasses when out in the sun.

“I worked at a school as a teacher aide and there were kids who told me they don’t burn so they don’t need sunscreen. That’s frightening.

“My two know young people get it as well as the elderly, it doesn’t discriminate. It was only when it happened to me that I learned that Māori and Pasifika are less likely to get melanoma, when they do it is more aggressive,” says Hayley, who has Māori whakapapa.

“We got to the beach and I see the young ones using oil and getting burnt. Is it naivety? Is it arrogance? Why put yourself at risk?”

The Powells will start fundraising early and already Trinity has donated her long hair to be made into wigs, donating the money to Melanoma New Zealand.

Andrea Newlands, chief executive of the charity, says New Zealand has the worst rate of melanoma in the world. Each year, more than 6000 people in this country are diagnosed with melanoma, and around 300 people will die from it, “so turning around these terrible statistics is crucial”.

She says Round the Bays provides an opportunity educate Kiwis on being sunsafe when taking part in outdoor events.

“We appreciate every dollar raised for our cause and look forward to seeing everyone getting out there on the course or taking part virtually, being sunsmart and having fun.”

Round the Bays will be held on Auckland’s Tāmaki Drive on March 5, 2023, or it can be done anywhere in the world on a virtual app version. Go to roundthebays.co.nz to take part and fundraise for Melanoma New Zealand.