I had five weeks to prepare for the Commonwealth Games with 20 stitches in my lower back."
Sam Short is an Australian swimmer and current World Champion in the 400m freestyle. He was competing in the World Championships in Hungary, just five weeks out from the Commonwealth Games, when the then 18-year-old was told he had melanoma.
Sam’s whole world was shaken by the news.
This is his story.
Living the outdoors lifestyle
Sam Short, 20, grew up on Australia’s Sunshine Coast. With a deep love for the ocean, Sam has been heavily involved in swimming, surfing and surf lifesaving from a very young age.
Conscious of his outdoor lifestyle and the risks of sun exposure, Sam has been having skin checks since the age of 15. But like many young, active Australians, the World Champion swimmer had never given the chance of anything serious happening to him a second thought. Before flying overseas to Hungary for the 2022 World Championships, Sam had a routine skin check and a few biopsies were sent off for testing, and again, didn’t think much of it.
Then, during the competition in Hungary, the team doctor pulled Sam aside.
“He told me that I had melanoma in my lower back and that we’ve got to get that removed as soon as possible.”
Sam was hoping to wait until he returned to Australia to remove the melanoma, however the doctors agreed they had to get it out as soon as possible, before it progressed to the next stage. Sam quickly underwent an operation while in Hungary.
“I had five weeks to prepare for the Commonwealth Games with 20 stitches in my lower back.”
After the operation, thankfully the tests came back clear however, “I’m left with a gnarly scar on my lower back,” he reminds us.
The lasting impact of a melanoma diagnosis
Being diagnosed with melanoma was undoubtably a huge shock for Sam.
“It's one of the hardest experiences I've had to go through ... all the other challenges I've had to overcome since seem like a walk in the park.... I was thinking, this is nothing compared to what I had to go through getting the melanoma out.”
Knowing the dangers associated with sun exposure all too well, Sam strongly encourages young Australians to adopt sun safe behaviours, so they never need to face the same terrifying reality.
“I'm always the guy putting on a lot of sunscreen before afternoon training, trying to do that extra level of sun safety.”
Having been diagnosed with a melanoma and knowing that it could affect him again is always at the front of Sam’s mind. He urges his friends and other young Australians, who think it won’t happen to them, to take sun protection seriously.
“Just look at my back. You don't want to have scars like these. It's so easily avoidable.”
Skin cancer is almost entirely preventable
Many Australians enjoy the beaches and outdoors life, but the facts can’t be ignored. Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. In fact, 2 in 3 Australians will receive a skin cancer diagnosis in their lifetime, and melanoma is the second most common cancer in Australians aged 15-24.
However, while skin cancer is the most common cancer in Australia, it's also the most preventable.
He believes that social media has played a role in our attitudes to suntanning.
“I see the influencers and all these popular people on Instagram and TikTok glorifying tanning on the beach and having a bronzed body, but I'm living proof of the repercussions from that sort of situation.”
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If anything raised in this article has caused concerns for you, please know that you can call Cancer Council’s free and confidential information and support service on 13 11 20 to speak to their specially trained staff, who can offer practical and emotional support.