After a surprise melanoma diagnosis, Courtney is walking to save lives

Posted on 27 February, 2026

When Canberra local Courtney Edwards was 37 years old, a trip to the hairdresser led to a life-changing melanoma diagnosis.

What had started as a simple haircut ended with an unexpected discovery – a spot on her scalp, noticed by her hairdresser.

With no family history of melanoma and a lifetime of sun-safe habits under her belt, Courtney booked into the GP as a precautionary measure. There she was told that there were no obvious signs of melanoma, and was asked to return in six months for another check-up.

In December 2024, her doctor took a biopsy as a precaution. When the results came back positive, everything changed.

“It was a real shock. My parents had always been very sun safe. My dad is from Zimbabwe, so we’d always paid a lot of attention to that,” explains Courtney.

“I was always that kid at the beach, wearing the rashy and the broad-brim hat while my friends were wearing little bikinis. I had a few burns when I was younger, but they were always inadvertent.”

Courtney is just one of the thousands of Australians living with melanoma.

Often referred to as ‘Australia’s national cancer’, it’s expected that 16,800 Australians will be diagnosed with melanoma this year alone.

Less than a decade ago, advanced melanoma was almost always fatal, with patients rarely surviving more than a few months. Now, thanks to research from the Melanoma Institute Australia (MIA), up to 90 per cent of melanomas can be cured if detected early.

Courtney Edwards.

Courtney says she was one of the lucky ones.

Diagnosed with a large and invasive Stage 2 melanoma, Courtney underwent several surgeries to remove the cancer and to ensure that it hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes.  After undertaking immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial with MIA over the past 12 months, she is currently showing no evidence of disease.

While she wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone, Courtney says there have been some silver linings, including a renewed perspective on life.

“There was a chance that the cancer could have spread through my bloodstream, and doing this trial gives me a lot of reassurance that hopefully I’m getting on with my life now and not having to worry too much about the cancer coming back,” she says.

“It was very healing for me, having the opportunity to be part of the clinical trial. The data they collect on me helps to refine the treatment for future melanoma patients. It’s a really good feeling to be able to contribute.”

Melanoma has impacted everything from Courtney’s relationships to her approach to work, and she now wants to see a world without it. That’s why she’s currently fundraising for the Melanoma March.

Bringing together families and communities to help raise vital funds for melanoma research, 2026 marks the 15^th year of the march. It began as a community fundraising event in 2012 when Manly local, James Economides, decided to raise awareness and research funds in honour of his son, Michael – who passed away from melanoma in 2008 at the age of 20.  It’s now the MIA’s major annual fundraising campaign.

The march will take place on Sunday 1 March at Black Mountain Peninsula Park, where Courtney will be joining other Canberra locals as they take steps to help save lives from melanoma.

“Canberra actually has very high melanoma rates for such a small part of the country,” says Courtney.

“People like myself living with melanoma – or family and friends of melanoma patients –get such a kick out of having a lot of people at these events.”

“Cancer can be a very lonely experience. When you have people showing up for you and expressing their support, it’s hard to describe how much that means to us.”

As she prepares to walk, Courtney also wants people to understand one important message: melanoma is largely preventable.

“It’s so important for people to be taking a multi-layered approach to protection of their skin from the sun…especially when we live in a country with extremely high UV rates and the highest levels of melanoma in the world,” she says.

“Every 30 minutes in Australia, someone’s diagnosed with the disease, and every six hours, someone dies. Those stats are mortifying to me…People think it can’t happen to them, and it really can.”

If you are unable to join the Melanoma March, you can still support the campaign by hosting a March Your Way activity with friends or individually.

To register to participate or donate to Melanoma March, go to melanomamarch.org.au.

Feature image via the Melanoma Institute Australia Facebook page.