EVERY morning Adam Brook wakes up is just another chance to kick life's challenges in the guts.
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His fight is going the distance and he has taken a significant body shot.
Mr Brook was diagnosed with stage III melanoma earlier this year by sheer chance.
He has gone on to become the very obliging face of a nationwide awareness campaign calling on youngsters to get a skin check.
The community has rallied behind the 27-year-old Tamworth man raising more than $5500 for the Melanoma Institute with a 24-hour exercise bike marathon at the Fit 2 Function gym.
Outwardly, Mr Brook shows no signs of slowing with the "game on mole" campaign.
The campaign encourages people to take photos of moles and freckles at the start of summer and track any potential growth.
However, after his first round of immunotherapy, scans revealed stage IV cancer in his liver.
The treatment has intensified, but the young man's positive outlook it irrepressible.
"For me, being a competitor and having that competitive [boxing] background, as soon as we got the news it was melanoma ... for me it was straight into fight mode," he said.
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"You just roll with the punches and take the good with the good and the bad with the bad.
"Even on the days you get the bad news, rest your head and know tomorrow when you get up, you get a fresh start to kick life in the guts again."
While his story has been shared nationally, he has seen an immediate effect within his community.
"I have had up to 10 people among my close friends approach me and said they have had skin checks and three of them have had potential moles cut out," he said.
"If one person gets a skin check after it or at least has a conversation, then I am happy to tell my story a million times."
Statistics from the Melanoma Institute suggest skin cancer the most common cancer affecting Australians aged 15-to-39.
Jacob McArthur
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
Jacob McArthur is opinions editor for The Canberra Times and Australian Community Media. As part of the Canberra Times' production team, he helps the people of Canberra and beyond get the stories they need, when they need them across a range of platforms, while helping maintain a high editorial standard. Before moving to Canberra in 2020, he started with Australian Community Media in 2015 as a journalist for The Northern Daily Leader in Tamworth where he kept a close eye on Tamworth Regional Council. Jacob was also the co-host of ACM's Water Pressure podcast where he and Jamieson Murphy took a deep dive on issues and key decisions arising during one of the region's worst droughts on record.
