04/09/2026
Tony passed away 5 years today just prior to his 69th Birthday. He received a double lung transplant in 2017 due to Farmer's Lung - he never smoked. We were warned that due to the immunoseppressant drugs he was to be on for the remainder of his life, the likelihood of skin cancers appearing was high. Yet our family were amazed that several medical staff (including his Lung Transplant Dr) seemingly shrugged off our concerns we had about the lesions that were appearing on his face. Unfortunately, our concerns were only taken seriously several months later and despite radiotherapy, the cancer spread to his lungs and he died shortly after treatment. Being during Covid, a small funeral was held and we decided to hold a car show in his honour at a later date, and this became our first Tony Kuchel Memorial Round-up. We also felt this was a good opportunity to raise funds for a charity - and this led to our fundraising to bring awareness about the dangers of skin cancer. Initially, funds went to Mates Against Melanoma and the CEO told us to spend the money raised in our community - and this led to the first pop-up clinic in the Barossa!
The second fundraiser was to be for the Australian Skin Cancer Foundation who were to bring their skin check truck along to the Round-up. Unfortunately, this didn't happen so the money we did raise paid for our lovely friends at Skintech Medical who came along to do the checks at very short notice, and for the next pop-up Clinic. We then decided we needed to form our own Charity so we had total control of monies raised - and here we are today.
The photo? (although a couple years old) Today is Jersey Day which brings recognition to organ and tissue donation, so our post ends with a plea to nominate as an organ donor, and let your family know your wishes!
