Natalie Fornasier, a writer from Sydney, died at age 28 after a long battle with metastatic melanoma. A death notice confirmed the news in The Sydney Morning Herald on January 28. The notice said that Fornasier had died on January 14.
“Alexander’s beloved wife. Alex’s sister and the daughter of Peter and Lorena, who love her very much. Loved Kirsten’s daughter-in-law. “Her grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, Natalie’s German family, and devoted “Little Helpers” will miss her very much,” the notice said.
Natalie Fornasier Cause of her death
Fornasier, who was first diagnosed with Stage III metastatic melanoma at age 20, did a lot to spread the word about how important it is to stay safe in the sun. She was also a big part of what inspired and drove the #CallTimeOnMelanoma campaign.
In December, Fornasier told her 35.1k Instagram followers, “at the end of July, I got the news that my cancer was now terminal and I only had months to live.” This was because the disease had reached stage IV.
Over $100,000 has been donated to a GoFundMe account set up for her husband, Alexander, and his family to cover funeral costs and so that they can “grieve without worrying about money for what’s next.”
“I had been circling around the word “terminal” for years, and it scared me because I always knew it was a possibility. But it’s also a mental state I never thought I’d be in,” she wrote at the time.
“As I came to understand what it meant to be dying, I fell into the deepest depression I’ve ever felt. I’ve cried and screamed every day for the past four months. I’ve lost track of time crying for Alexander, my broken heart, and the love I’d be leaving behind for the life we were meant to have.
Source: Herald Sun
“I have shed tears for my family. I’ve cried until I couldn’t speak because I was afraid of dying. I’ve screamed for the children I would never have, getting old, my friends, and the life I was supposed to live.
“It’s hard to say that I’m going to die. At age 28, I feel like everything is wrong. There’s nothing natural about the conversations I’ve had to have, the plans I’ve had to make, or the places my thoughts have gone and are going. This hurts.”
In a follow-up post on December 21, Fornasier wrote that after a month in palliative care, she “could no longer walk without aids.” She had written about her eight-year battle with cancer on social media, in podcast interviews, and in dozens of online articles.
“My legs are full of fluid, my whole body hurts all the time, and the weight of the tumours is very heavy. “My pain is slowly getting worse, and every day I can feel my body slowing down just a little bit more. It’s so strange to see, especially when you can feel it, too,” she said.
Statistics from the Cancer Council say that by the age of 70, two out of every three Australians will have been diagnosed with some form of skin cancer. However, new research from life insurer TAL found that 63% of the population hasn’t had a skin check in the last year, and 30% have never had one.
