The immortal words of Baz Luhrmann’s 1997 hit single, ‘Wear sunscreen’ were echoed by much loved Australian actor Hugh Jackman this weekend after his second skin cancer scare.
The initial scare was in November 2013. Jackman last week posted a pic of himself (above) on his Instagram account, bearded with a large plaster over his nose.
The Wolverine actor, staring in the new X-Men movie X-Men: Days of Future Past — set for release later this month, pleaded with fans; “Please! Please! Wear sunscreen”. The picture on Instagram was captioned; “Another Basel Cell Carcinoma. All out now.”
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Hugh Jackman learned the result of the biopsy on Thursday and had the ‘mark’, as he calls it, removed immediately.
The award-winning actor’s scare comes mere moths after the tragic passing of US actor James Rebhorn. Rebhorn, best known for his roles as Claire Dain’s character’s father in the ‘Homeland’ series, died in his home in New Jersey after a five-year battle with skin cancer.
Chilling statistics published on the Skin Cancer Australia website paints a grim picture. Stating that every year in Australia skin cancer account for 80% of all newly diagnosed cancers. Jackman’s plea should be heeded as Skin Cancer Australia further confirms that between 95 and 99% of skin cancers are as a direct result of sun-exposure. The Australian incidents of skin cancer are the highest in the world at two or three times the reported rates in Canada, the US and the UK.
The Better Health website,funded by the State Government of Victoria, states; “Each year, around 2,000 Australians die from skin cancer, yet skin cancer is one of the most preventable cancers.”
“Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience… But trust me on the sunscreen”. — Baz Luhrmann
