Michelle Lachmund has always been considered a tower of strength by her nearest and dearest, helping those around her during the darkest of times. Now friends and family are returning the support, as the South Morang mother of two fights melanoma.
“She means everything to us,” says Lachmund’s younger sister, Angela Fitzsimmonds. “She’s spent so many years helping all of us, it’s a shame that it’s taken this for us to be able to say, ‘Let us help you’.”
Lachmund, 49, discovered a raised area on her shoulder in November, last year. Biopsies revealed she was in the fourth stages of melanoma and in March this year scans revealed that the cancer had spread to Lachmund’s brain. She stopped work as a medical administration clerk and after countless rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, she is awaiting more surgery to remove a third tumour from her brain.
Fitzsimmonds and other concerned loved ones have formed a committee to organise a gala ball to raise money for Lachmund and her family to assist with hefty medical bills and unforseen costs attached to her treatment.
The fundraising event is has been dubbed A Touch of Purple, a nod to Lachmund’s new favourite colour. “We lost our mum to lung cancer three years ago and we all wore purple to her funeral, so it’s a significant colour,” Fitzsimmonds says.
It was during this struggle that Fitzsimmonds realised how special her sister was. “We looked after our mum at home and Michelle was the one who took time off work and kept us all together,” she says.
Together with a three-course meal and music performed by band The Real Thing, the evening will include a number of auctions and raffles, with donations coming from local sponsors and big businesses, including jumpers from AFL clubs and passes to attend the set of Neighbours during filming.
“I still can’t believe it,” Lachmund says of the outreach. “I wonder why I deserve it; it’s a pride thing, I think.”
She was initially hesitant about agreeing to the event, until it was pointed out that this was also an opportunity to raise awareness about melanoma.
Her advice to others is to “always follow your gut’’. ‘‘That’s how I felt when I thought that there was something wrong,” she says.
“It wasn’t even a lump and we’ve never seen a mole, but she persevered with it because she knew it wasn’t right,” Fitzsimmonds says.
“We always say to our young ones now, ‘You just have to be so careful with the sun, there’s no second chance’.”
A Touch of Purple is at Diamond Creek’s Ashton Manor on October 13. For bookings and details: call 0419 117 616.
