Melanoma survivor Jay Allen passed through the Clarence Valley on the weekend, during his 1200 kilometre trek from Brisbane to Sydney, in an effort to raise awareness and money towards research, for the Melanoma Institute Australia. Jay’s motivation came after he was diagnosed with melanoma in 2008 and underwent surgery and treatment for the disease. Jay, who is now fighting fit, was determined to give back to the Melanoma Institute, which he attributes to saving his life. Jay arrived in Maclean on Saturday, after walking from New Italy. His walk on Sunday kicked off from the Maclean Civic Centre at around 7.30am. Jay said that he was joined by three other co-walkers for his walk to Grafton via Lawrence. “One of my very good friends Raffael McGowan is walking one of our legs with us today,” said Jay. “We stayed with his family who live here in Maclean, last night. “Raffael lost his sister Tess to melanoma.” Jay is very passionate about this walk and why he is doing it. “This (walk) will undoubtedly push me to the limits physically, but every step I take will be in memory of those who have died from melanoma and those who are currently fighting this disease,” he said. Jay’s goal is to raise $250,000 for melanoma research and at the time of going to print, Jay has so far raised $120,000, well on the way to exceeding his goal.