Warning to teenagers from heartbroken mum

As teenager preparing to die Michael Pillar said to his his mother: “Don’t worry Mum, I’ve already had a good life.”

Elizabeth Pillar holds those words close to her heart whenever she thinks of Michael, who was diagnosed with melanoma at 17 when a large and rather “ugly” mole on his calf raised concerns.

It had been there for years before she noticed it had grown bigger. “I will always regret not having acted earlier.”

Michael had the mole removed but it was after testing doctors realised the gravity of the situation and he was soon diagnosed with melanoma.

Operations to remove the cancerous cells from his leg and small deposits around his groin were quickly done. The prognosis appeared good and come Christmas, he thought he was in the clear.

However, as Easter came around Michael started complaining of a sore back. It was nothing at first, Elizabeth remembers, but one morning in May he was rushed to Rotorua Hospital where cancer was found in a number of parts of his body.

“It was shocking, but ignorance is bliss and I didn’t appreciate the seriousness,” Elizabeth says. Michael died in June 2017 aged 19. “I want to empower young people to take control and be aware or be responsible for their own bodies and that life is worth living.

“People would say, ‘Oh, he’s young, therefore he’s got a chance’ but it’s actually the opposite . . . because for young people, their cells divide more quickly. You put those two things together, and you have dynamite.”