The world will lose a very bright spark with your passing, Clare. But your great strength, and love will not be forgotten. I wish your life had been more ordinary. I cannot give you what you yearn for. But I promise that in time to come, I will give your memory life as I return your love.
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Update
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A tan to die for
By Clare Oliver
CLARE Oliver knows skin cancer will claim her life in the coming weeks, if not days.
It has already robbed her of her dream to become a journalist, but the determined 25-year-old still has the courage to write for the Herald Sun from her bed at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre to warn others of the dangers of tanning salons.
Her brave warning comes as Cancer Council Victoria pleads with the State Government to regulate the booming tanning industry, which it says contributes to skin cancer deaths and melanoma.
But any action will be too late to save Clare Oliver, who now just wants to live long enough to enjoy her 26th birthday on Saturday.
I AM at peace.
But if I could go back and talk to myself when I was 19 I would tell that girl not to use a solarium -- that melanoma is not a small cancer that you just have cut out and you will be fine.
I may pass in another week or it could be two. If I really fight it out, I may even have six weeks left.
It's scary, because I feel myself getting more tired, and each time I feel sleepy it worries me that I might not wake up.
So far I have lived 25 years. If I am lucky I will reach 26 because my birthday is on Saturday.
It is a short life, but I have lived it.
Subconsciously I did know that cancer was involved with solariums because I was aware of UV A and UV B rays.
But when I was 19, I saw a cheap offer of "buy 10 sessions and get 20".
The girl working at the tanning salon told me the fastest way to get a tan was to come in every second day and use speed cream.
My mum told me it was abnormal to get in a box and fry myself, but I told her it was cool and everyone was doing it.
After the 10th session I was starting to burn and it hurt, so I stopped. But I guess I stopped too late.
It would be irresponsible of me to blame it just on solariums, because I grew up in St Kilda and went to the beach a lot.
But you can't tell me the Government doesn't realise the dangers of solariums.
Young girls need to go out and educate themselves about solariums before they make any decisions.
Obviously my decision has been made, and I think they should be banned. But now that you know my story and the resulting risks involved, hopefully you will realise it is not worth having a golden tan.
I am angry at myself mostly, but I can't believe how much the industry is booming.
A lot of friends tell me I still have a lot of life left in me, but I just live every day as though it is my last.
I was 22 when diagnosed. I had just finished a Bachelor of Media and Communication and a Master of Cinema at the University of Melbourne and started work as a sports journalist at SBS.
I was on top of the world.
But I only got to work for three weeks and then I found out about my cancer.
I will never get to climb the so-called ladder, and even now I complain about not being able to run the rat race with everyone else.
I know I would be good at it -- I think I would be great at it.
I wanted to go to the top, but now feel I have so much potential that will be unused.
It was 2004 when they found a tumour under my left armpit, which they treated with immunotherapy.
In July 2005, it came back and this time they treated me with radiotherapy.
I was cancer-free for a year and seven months, and then in April I found a lump in my neck. I thought they could just cut it out, but it turns out there were seven tumours in my chest and one in my lung.
Now they have stopped counting how many there are.
I had all these ideas and in the end I was ready to accept that two years would be more than enough time left.
But I have accepted it, especially now that I am nearing the end and I am at peace.
When you are someone like me you realise that life is everything and you grab it with both hands and embrace it.
If there is something that you feel needs to be done, go and do it, and do it wholeheartedly because life is short.
People ask me how I can still be so happy with all this on my plate. But I have lived my life as a spark. I don't want to live a life where I am living until I am 100 and just flat boring.
I have always lived my life with compassion and passion. I have never been one to keep my silence about anything I have felt passionate about.
Melanoma is no joke. And I will keep championing this cause till the day I take my last breath.
Solarium cancer victim makes it to birthday bash
By Suellen Hinde
SKIN cancer victim Clare Oliver yesterday struggled to fulfil her dying wish for a birthday party.
After arriving in an ambulance at Luna Park for her 26th birthday bash, she didn't have the strength to get out of the vehicle.
Almost half an hour later she managed to join family and friends at the toothy gates of the fun park. Clare had had a tough night.
"I needed some extra pain relief," she said.
The young woman, dying of aggressive melanoma, captured Victorian hearts this week when she spoke out against tanning and solariums.
From her wheelchair, she said: "I was not sure I could make it. But today is like a milestone.
"I was not expected to live this long, I should have been gone two weeks ago, but I keep on fighting.
"I am going to rock inside today, but I am too weak to go on the rides."
Clare cut her birthday cake as about 70 well-wishers sang the birthday song.
Her friend of 10 years, Carmen Tong, praised Clare's strength and courage in speaking out against the fad of tanning and use of solariums.
"It would be really easy for her to hide away," Ms Tong said.
"And for those people who are really fashion-conscious and obsessed with tanning, the message is important."
Clare told of her illness this week and described herself as a fanatic tanner at the beach and in solariums.
"When I spoke out, I didn't realise the impact it would have and I am completely and utterly overwhelmed that such a small action from me can cause such a huge reaction," she said.
A song was written at
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=73764
Video is at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giuaqDMaq9Y
or here, at
http://www.icompositions.com/music/song.php?sid=73925
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