Jay had a mole on his ankle which had been there his whole life and was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma in 2008.

Last week he was in Cowra talking to children at the local schools as a Community Coordinator with the Melanoma Institute of Australia to spread awareness of the disease and help others in the same situation.

“The GP took one look at the mole and said it had to come out,” he said.

Speaking to the children at Cowra Public School Jay stressed the importance to the children of being sun safe.

“You have to be sun smart from a young age,” Jay said.

“What you can do to protect yourself is follow the sun smart rules,” he said.

“Putting sunscreen on should be a daily habit,” he said encouraging the children to apply sunscreen each day after they clean their teeth.

The students learnt the importance of  wearing a wide brim hat protective clothing, sunglasses and applying 50 plus sunscreen.