Family say goodbye to mom Liz McLaughlin after losing battle with melanoma

It was a battle with melanoma that Liz McLaughlin thought she had won, until doctors told her four months ago that the disease had spread like wildfire.

Despite a fierce battle with aggressive cancer using promising immunotherapy, she passed away a fortnight ago, just short of her 30th birthday and leaving behind a 10-month-old baby, Ivy.

Ms McLaughlin was diagnosed with melanoma at the age of 23 and for more than five years after being successfully treated she appeared to be in perfect health.

She had a problem-free pregnancy with Ivy, but the abdominal pain started soon after the birth.

It was then that the doctors diagnosed him with stage four metastatic melanoma.

Cancer had taken hold in her brain and was so advanced that doctors decided a few weeks ago that further treatment was unnecessary.

She passed away on November 22 and her funeral was in Fremantle Cemetery today.

But along the way, she took the time to speak out publicly to raise awareness about the early detection of melanoma, and friends and strangers have donated over $ 23,000 to help her family, including her partner Tommy. Corrigan.

Lisa McLaughlin wrote on Facebook on the day of her daughter’s death that she was at peace after 125 days of fighting.

“My darling little girl, our beautiful Lizzee, passed away this majestic spring morning, in the height of jaca-randa,” she wrote.

Ms McLaughlin had previously announced that her daughter had been strong and courageous, and doctors expected her to live just weeks after her diagnosis of advanced cancer in July. “They haven’t known such an aggressive cancer patient who fights it so resiliently,” she wrote.

The director of HeartKids, where Ms McLaughlin had worked, said she had been a highly regarded member of her WA team. “His passing after a short battle with cancer saddens us all deeply,” Mark Brooke said in a Facebook post.

“Liz brought some sunshine to our WA office and will be sadly missed by all of us.”