Gina Savage’s heartbreaking melanoma battle and her warning to others

Tamra Betts lost her 25-year-old daughter Emma to melanoma. During a sun safety campaign, she met Gina Savage, 24, who has been dealing with her own diagnosis.

TAMRA Betts lost her 25-year-old daughter Emma to melanoma. During a sun safety campaign, she met Gina Savage, 24, who has been dealing with her own diagnosis.

Tamra Betts, 56, Tennyson

My life changed the day our daughter, Emma, was diagnosed with melanoma. She was just 21. Over the next four years, Emma became a fierce advocate for sun safety and melanoma awareness and always fundraising for the Melanoma Institute Australia. As a form of therapy, she started writing a blog ‘Dear Melanoma’ and it became hugely popular, with 29,000 followers worldwide. It led to Emma opening an online business, ‘Love, Emma’, making care packages catering for people who were going through a tough time.

CATE OPENS UP OVER HEALTH SCARE

WHY WE’RE THE SKIN CANCER CAPITAL AGAIN

Two friends Tamra Betts and Gina Savage who met through cancer diagnosis. Picture: Mark Cranitch

But in April, 2017, the melanoma took hold of Emma’s body and she passed away. I was determined to continue her plight and be the fierce advocate she was. In December 2018, I was asked to take part in a sun safety video. This is where I met Gina.

Gina told me when she was diagnosed with melanoma, she’d found ‘Dear Melanoma’. (Emma’s) blogs were, at times, gut-wrenching but always truthful and Gina let me know how much they’d helped her. I could see a lot of my daughter in Gina and I wish they had the opportunity to meet because I have no doubt they would’ve been friends. Emma’s favourite quote was ‘live life with purpose’ and that is exactly what Gina does.

Being young and living with cancer comes with tough times. Emma found it helpful reaching out to her ‘melanoma’ friends whether it be to vent or a laugh about funny experiences she encountered.
I meet with Gina regularly, I enjoy her company, we laugh. I feel this connection to Gina that is difficult to explain. I always leave our coffee dates feeling warm inside and totally at ease, always looking forward to our next catch up. She is full of energy and chatter.

When Gina suggested we do this story together, I cried. I feel so fortunate that our paths have crossed. Melanoma is an insidious disease and there is nothing good about it but since Emma’s diagnosis and her passing, some amazing people have come into my life. I’m so blessed to have friends like Gina and to have a beautiful husband, two beautiful daughters, their families and Emma’s husband. The day Emma passed away my life changed, and I am no longer the same person but our family moves forward and Emma is always with us.

Tamra Betts (left): “I meet with Gina regularly, I enjoy her company, we laugh.” Picture: Mark Cranitch.

Gina Savage, 24, New Farm

In 2015, when I was 20, I found a small lump on my scalp. It always made brushing my hair infuriating. It was surgically removed and unsuspectingly, I was diagnosed with melanoma. Two years later, what I thought would never return was the beginning of an extremely difficult and heartbreaking journey with metastatic melanoma.

With the help of friends like Tamra, I’ve been able to stay positive. I actually knew of Tamra before she knew me. Right before I started an immunotherapy trial back in October 2017, I was researching side-effects and response rates and I came across her daughter Emma’s blog, ‘Dear Melanoma.’ It was this raw and incredible blog about her experiences with melanoma. We were properly introduced when we did some filming for a safety product.

I have the most incredible support system around me but what makes my relationship with Tamra so special is we understand these experiences on a level that no one else quite does. She gets the ins and outs of what I’m going through, not just physically but emotionally.

Over the past two years, I’ve had five surgeries to my head and neck, one being a stage-four neck dissection to remove 49 lymph nodes and half of my salivary gland, radiotherapy to both my head and neck and to my lungs and endured three different immunotherapy drugs.

Gina Savage (left): “With the help of friends like Tamra, I’ve been able to stay positive.” Picture: Mark Cranitch

Unfortunately, all of this has not been enough to prevent the cancer spreading further in my lungs, abdomen, pelvis and the scariest of all, it’s now decided to infiltrate and inhabit my liver, sadly having an extremely gut-wrenching impact on my prognosis at 24 years old.

But when I’m with Tamra, life is better. It isn’t always all about cancer, which I love.
I always describe our relationship as a huge, warm cuddle. Tamra has said I remind her so much of Emma and I’m obviously not here to try and fill any kind of void, but I really do hope she finds comfort in this special connection we have because I know I absolutely do. I’m in awe of her, she does such an incredible job of keeping Emma’s legacy burning so brightly. She’s such a wonderful and selfless woman and it’s been an absolute privilege to get to know her and have her in my life.

Visit donate.melanoma.org.au to donate