I'VE won that fight before and I'll win it again.
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That's mother-of-two Rosalyn Petty's attitude as she faces a fresh battle against melanoma - a disease she has, unfortunately, come to know intimately in recent years.
Though her latest round of treatment has left her feeling "very, very ill", Ms Petty will be at the Bathurst Melanoma March this Sunday with a whole bunch of reinforcements - members of her family.
Ms Petty has 10 brothers and sisters, two of whom are living in South Australia and won't be able to make it.
"But the rest of them, with partners and kids, should be there," she said.
"I'll also have a lot of work colleagues from Woolworths.
"It should be a pretty big team; we might get close to 50."
Ms Petty was diagnosed with her first melanoma, in the centre of her back, in September 2013 and had it removed.
But a lump she discovered on her lower back in August 2015 led to a diagnosis, in early 2016, of stage four melanoma - indicating the cancer had spread to other parts of the body.
Placed on a clinical trial after being referred to Melanoma Institute Australia, Ms Petty was declared free of cancer in May last year.
"It was all smooth sailing," she said.
But one of her regular scans, in January this year, showed that the melanoma had reoccurred in her hipbone.
Ms Petty is now undergoing a new immunotherapy treatment in Sydney and will have to finish four cycles of a double infusion - she only recently got through the third - before she gets an idea of her progress.
"I have just had 15 rounds of radiation to my hip spread over about a month," she said.
Ms Petty said she coped with her first immunotherapy treatment, when she was placed on the clinical trial, "fairly well", but she said this new treatment was knocking her around.
"I'm lucky if I can get out of bed and get dressed."
Nonetheless, she will be at the Bathurst Melanoma March because she says it's important to raise awareness about the disease and raise funds for the Melanoma Institute for trials.
"Because it worked so well for me the first time, I would like everyone to have that opportunity," she said.
Ms Petty said the march was also a time for remembering.
"It's a day of reflecting," she said.
Rosalyn will be hosting a fundraising barbecue outside of Woolworths this Saturday, March 23
The annual Bathurst Melanoma March will be held this Sunday, March 24 at Bicentennial Park.
Participants are asked to arrive at 9am and the march will begin at 10.30am. There will be a sausage sizzle afterwards.
To register or donate for the Bathurst Melanoma March, visit melanomamarch.org.au
