Skip to main content

How it started…the Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation (NEMF) was launched in December 2021 following Neil Evans’ passing in June 2021 after a long battle with melanoma. He was 48 years old.

NEMF is dedicated to raising vital funds for its Patient Fund which, in partnership with Melanoma Institute of Australia (MIA), directly supports advanced-stage melanoma patients across Australia to access life-saving treatments and other services during their treatment journeys.

Neil’s wish before he passed was simple – to give people with melanoma every chance to beat their cancer, without financial barriers.

Did you know?

  • Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer and holds the unenviable title of ‘Australia’s national cancer’
  • 1 Australian is diagnosed with Melanoma every 30 minutes
  • Melanoma kills more young Australians than any other single cancer
  • Recent MIA-led trials have made major breakthroughs in its treatment, tripling life expectancy for over 50% of advanced melanoma patients, yet still
  • Every year 1,300 Australians will die from the disease, most of them young, fit, and in the prime of their lives, like Neil was.

How it’s going

18 months on and on the 2nd anniversary of his passing, Neil’s legacy is bigger and brighter than ever, and the Patient Fund is making a very real impact on people’s lives, like:

  • Contributing to psychiatric care for a patient following their late-stage melanoma diagnosis
  • Funding clinical trial infusions for two patients
  • Supporting with accommodation and transport for a patient receiving treatment at GenesisCare at the Mater in Sydney
  • Contributing towards medication for a patient who had exhausted their PBS allocation
  • Providing access to life-changing colitis medication for one young patient, Martina Duleska, following debilitating side effects of immunotherapy

June ‘23 highlight

In the UK, where Neil was born, £50,000 has been raised to purchase a HORUS HS800 Mole Mapping Unit which has just arrived at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital.

If you care about supporting melanoma patients when – and how – they need it the most, consider making a donation today. Because the latest melanoma treatments don’t mean a thing if you can’t pay for them.

MAKE A DONATION.