Help Jenny Day fight for a cure in honour of her late husband David

Jjenny lostl herh hihighh school h l sweetheart to melanoma. Now she’s marching for a cure

His nickname at work was “Nice Dave”. He liked musical theatre, learning languages and especially reading stories and playing with his adored daughters Charlotte and Emma. He was excited about the imminent arrival of his third baby girl, Annie. But just before Christmas 2016, software engineer David Day felt a small but worrying lump underneath his left armpit.

“Dave was always super-vigilant about sun protection,” says his wife Jenny. “He was fair but he’d had an all-clear skin check in September 2016. But shortly after he found the lump, in December, when I was 38 weeks pregnant with Annie, he was diagnosed with stage-three melanoma. Eight months later, on August 28, 2017, David died, two days before his 34th birthday.” The loss of her soulmate, who she met in Year 9, has understandably devastated Jenny and her gorgeous daughters Charlotte, Emma and Annie, who are now eight, six and two. But she’s also bravely chosen to speak out about the dangers of melanoma – which kills one Australian every five hours. “No one can tell us why this happened to Dave,” says Jenny. “He had no family history of the disease and his doctors couldn’t find the primary spot that signalled its arrival.” In the 18 months since David’s death, Jenny’s thrown herself into caring for her girls – but they all miss their “wonderful” dad terribly. “Emma still begs me to ‘make Daddy come back’,” says Jenny, who lives in Sydney’s Sutherland shire and runs a cloth nappy supply business. “Charlotte really misses him… they loved to play Lego together. She often says, ‘Have they found a cure yet?’”

Before he died, David took part in Melanoma March, which helps the Melanoma Institute Australia raise awareness and funds to research a cure. This year, Jenny and the girls will march again, in David’s honour.

“Melanoma affects all Australians, but young people especially,” says Jenny. “It’s too late for David. I don’t want anyone else to lose a precious loved one too soon.”

For more information or to participate in one of many Melanoma March events taking place across Australia next month, visit melanomamarch.org.au

‘I don’t want anyone else to lose a loved one too soon’

Jenny is vigilant about sun protec protection, espec especially for her three daughters.

The couple were engaged at 19 and married at 21.

David died only eight months after he was diagnosed.