Beards For The Bush

Help Us Bring Skin Specialists to Where They Are Needed Most

The 6-7 m months preparing for the walk across Australia has had many gruelling experiences, including a rolled 4wd, broken toe and my first lot of camels being shot. With all the ups and downs I wanted to make sure that I was in fighting fit condition, ready to take on whatever was thrown at me next.

I got a thorough check-up at the doctor, and as luck would have it, my doctor was also a Skin specialist. On his advice, he did a full mole scan on my entire body. A bit of overkill I thought until he paused during the check of my back.
There was a nasty melanoma right in the dead centre of my back, in a place I could not see, feel or check myself.
There was a nasty melanoma right in the dead centre of my back, in a place I could not see, feel or check myself.
My story is a happy one, as I caught it early and have had it removed without a drama. However if not for this expedition, I would not have got a scan, in fact, the one I got was the first I have had in my life.
Melanoma is responsible for more deaths than any other cancer in younger males and most young males under 30 have never been checked.
I wanted to make sure that many more can share the same story as mine, early detection and removal.

I am therefore working with Beard Season to talk with people along the trek about getting checked. Encouraging them to where possible.

But we wanted to take it one step further.

We will be speaking with regional communities, mining companies, and other workplaces along the trek and getting doctors to visit and perform check-ups for free along the way. Every time we hit one of the fundraising targets we will fly a skin specialist to a community that does not have access to these services and provide these life saving early detection procedures.

Not just awareness but actual detection.