Baby boomers ‘blase’ as NZ’s deadly melanoma rates remain highest in world

Source: Stuff, February 2019

When 66-year-old Mike Bourke gets dragged to the beach he scans the sand for red bodies.

He’s part of a generational club and wonders who here will be the next member. Will it be the child building a sandcastle without a hat, or the woman laid out on the red mat, oiled up and waiting for that crisp, golden, tan?

Bourke cringes. The melanoma club should be a group no-one wants to join, so why do they risk it?

The Fonterra worker was diagnosed with melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer, five years ago. It presented as a skin tag on the top of his scalp, the size of a 20-cent piece, that would sometimes bleed.