By Lyndsey Wetton, Fremantle-Cockburn Gazette
WHEN Jandakot dad Jerome Gallagheris undertakes a gruelling 200-kilometre cycle along the WA coastline later this year, it will be for a cause close to his heart.
In 2011, after enduring unsuccessful rounds of radiation and chemotherapy, Mr Gallagheris’ wife Vickey passed away from melanoma, leaving him a single dad to raise two young children.
On October 20-21, as part of Team Triple J, (for Jerome and kids Jasmine and Jamie) he will join thousands of other cyclists on a fundraising journey from Perth to Mandurah, with all money raised going to the WA Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR).
Having already raised more than $14,000 and with a goal of $25,000, he is the sixth highest fundraiser in the State and said he hoped research would eventually lead to a cure for melanoma and other types of cancer through earlier diagnosis.
“Yes it is too late for my wife to be saved but my kids, who are seven and five, have a 50 per cent chance of having a genetic disposition to this disease – that is my worst nightmare,” he said.
“Maybe not today, but some day in the future when our kids are adults, there’ll be a cure for melanoma.”