A Sudden Loss
In July last year, 29-year-old Emily Robertson-Miller was at work when she fell ill. About 30 hours later, she lost her life. The melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, had metastasised and spread to her brain, something the young woman was unaware of.
On Sunday in Geraldton, in Midwest Western Australia, they marched for her legacy. At the melanoma march, Emily’s loved ones were still feeling the heavy grief of losing her unexpectedly, less than a year ago. It was a shock to everyone who knew her.
“We didn’t know that she was even unwell,” Emily’s partner Ruby Blakeway said. A melanoma had been removed from Emily’s shoulder in 2022, and she had seemingly recovered. Ms Blakeway said when Emily fell ill at work, they first thought it was a stroke. The mental health support worker was rushed to hospital, but when her condition deteriorated, she was put on life support and flown to Perth for surgery.
During surgery, the doctors found two large tumours in Emily’s brain, which had caused unsurvivable damage. “She’d been having some headaches and mood changes, but she had a history of quite bad migraines,” Ms Blakeway said. “No-one had even considered that the melanoma might have spread to her brain. Even though she and the doctors did everything right, it was an aggressive kind that slipped through.”
According to the Melanoma Institute, melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and the most common cancer affecting people in their 20s and 30s. Australia has the highest rates in the world, with one in every 18 Australians developing it.
Money for Research
Emily’s friends and family say their loss “lit a fire”, helping them raise thousands of dollars for Geraldton’s 15th Melanoma March on Sunday. In recent years, the yearly walk has been held in honour of another Geraldton local, Jason O’Brien, who lost his life to Melanoma in 2021, at age 47.
Ms Blakeway said the money would assist research to save others. “Hopefully long term we can find medical interventions to be able to catch this early,” she said. She also wanted more people to be aware of the dangers of skin cancer.
“Em was a goth, she didn’t do the ‘sun thing’ very often,” she said. “It’s still so important to be sun aware, get your moles checked, even if you’re not sure.”
Emily’s friend, Casey Clark, said some people who were highly sensitive found sunscreen too overwhelming to wear, but there were many options for people who struggle with this. “There are so many sunscreens out there now that dry matt, don’t smell like sunscreen but are still SPF 50,” Ms Clark said. “Find the sunscreen you like, that doesn’t overwhelm you or make you uncomfortable to wear and reapply.”
Emily ‘Wanted to Do a Lot of Good’
Emily’s family and friends say she was a mental health support worker and a passionate advocate within the local diverse and LGBTQ+ community. Before she passed, Emily had been talking about starting a community food cupboard for people in need, improving blood donation facilities and starting a soup kitchen.
“She wanted to do a lot of good like that,” Ms Clark said. Ms Blakemore said talking about her loss was hard, but it felt good to do something in Emily’s name. “I like to think she’d be proud of us,” she said.
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