Golfer’s skin cancer warning
GOLFER Peter McWhinney has had more skin cancers cut off in his life than he cares to count but on last year gave him the fright of his life.
A spot on his neck turned out to be a melanoma.
"I've had basal cell carcinomas and squamous cells, but I never thought I'd get a melanoma. When the doctor told me, it was like being given the fright of your life," he said.
Peter, 59, of Pelican Waters, had his first skin cancer removed in the 1980s and has been plagued by them ever since.
He blames them on an combination of the Celtic skin he inherited and too much time spent in the sun without protection.
Although he started wearing a broad-brimmed hat in the 1980s, the damage was already done.
"I've had them on my back - that comes from being a kid around the swimming pool in country New South Wales," he said
"We'd have blisters the size of 50 cent pieces and if you started peeling, you'd have a competition to see how much skin you could peel off."
Peter said the public awareness of sun safety was much better these day and the government had done its bit with education and Medicare rebates, but people needed to take responsibility for their own health and have regular skin checks.
"If you get these things early, they can treat them, but if you don't it's too late. Your brown bread."
