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The Beast is a free, full-colour magazine for locals and visitors to the eastern suburbs of Sydney, Neil Evans‘ adopted home. Over many years, The Beast has grown to become an important part of the local community and the sole source of independent, objective local news. With a circulation of 60,000 (and a readership many times that), it was a huge thrill for the Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation to be featured in their January ’25 edition.

January is peak summertime in Australia, a time when millions of Australians are enjoying time off work – and time in the sun. Alarmingly, there is still a massive sun, surf, and tanning culture in Australia that it is going to take a collective effort – and likely many years – to change.

But every step towards sun safety counts! So we owe a debt of gratitude to The Beast for helping us continue to raise awareness of the dangers of our obsession with the sun, the risks associated with melanoma, especially for young people, and the financial challenges many Australians face in accessing treatments and other services once they are diagnosed.

Double page spread of an A5 mag depicting local advertising and editorial

Beating the odds together

You couldn’t have missed the giant melanoma installation on Tamarama during Sculpture by the Sea this year. Or maybe you saw Conquering Skin Cancer in cinemas earlier this month or read Coogee local Anne Gately’s miraculous survivor memoir, Sunburnt?

Melanoma researchers Professors Georgina Long and Richard Scolyer were even named 2024 Australians of the Year.

Yet despite the rising tide of skin cancer awareness, melanoma still kills more young Australians than any other single cancer. One of us is diagnosed every 30 minutes. Another dies from this highly preventable disease every six hours. Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world; not a world record to be proud of!

The stats are there. So why does the allure of the ‘bronzed Aussie’ and our ‘sunburnt country’ persist? Despite decades of campaigning to teach us otherwise (‘Slip…slop…slap; slip on a shirt, slop on sunscreen and…you know the rest), tans are still bizarrely cool, especially here in the east.

Sun damage starts early. Just one severe sunburn in childhood can trigger a melanoma later in life. And new Australians aren’t immune. UK expat and eastern suburbs local Neil Evans was just 48 when he finally lost his heroic three-and-a-half-year battle with melanoma in 2021. 

If there is good news, it’s that melanoma is easily detected. Up to 95% of them are curable with surgery if detected early enough. For the remaining 5%, sadly, treatments can be prohibitively expensive. 

In Neil’s final days, he spoke of his desire to help people with less financial means than himself to access the latest treatment options, so that everyone could have an equal chance of beating this life-threatening cancer, regardless of their financial position.

The Neil Evans Melanoma Foundation is his vital legacy. 

Visit beatmelanoma.com.au and help save a life today.

Originally published in The Beast, Jan 2025 edition.