Perton man heading to Australia next year for monumental fundraiser to raise more than £20,000

A Perton man living with cancer will travel to Australia next year to raise funds for four different charities.

In 2022, at just 35, Luke Rogers was diagnosed with stage 2B melanoma - the news arriving at the same time he found out his wife was expecting their first child, Alfie.

“At the same time I got diagnosed with the melanoma, we found out that my wife was pregnant with our first child. It’s been a crazy three, four years. I never stopped working while this was going on,” he said.

After surgery, Luke took part in Macmillan’s Mighty Hike in Cornwall and raised over £8,000, becoming one of the top fundraisers.

Now Luke is gearing up for another fundraiser and the biggest one of his life that is set to take place in October 2027, though Luke has said that he has already raised a quarter of his £20,000 target, and has £5000.

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As part of this fundraising drive, Luke will be travelling to Port Lincoln in Southern Australia to cage dive with great white sharks in support of four charities that mean a great deal to him. These charities are Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK, Melanoma UK and Kidney Cancer UK.

So far, he has the target, but hopes to surpass expectations - “I say, £20,00, but I would love to smash this out of the park,” Luke told the Express & Star.

Luke’s workplace has donated some money for this fundraising drive. There are also donations on his Give Star page.

Since Christmas, Luke has been much better health-wise.

He told the Express & Star: “I underwent surgery over Christmas to have it removed. Thankfully, my results since have been good, but having faced cancer twice by 38, I’m now undergoing genetic testing to understand whether I’m more susceptible in the future.”

Luke said that he is hoping to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support, Cancer Research UK, Melanoma UK, Kidney Cancer UK. He said: “I’ve planning this a while and I’ve chosen the four charities that mean the most to me.”

“Excited, to do what I can, to raise as much money as I can,” he shared.

Luke shared that doing fundraising activities such as this has been good for his mental health.

“I never took any time off really, even when I was diagnosed with the melanoma, I think my way of dealing with things is to just carry on. That’s why the challenges have kind of helped with it as well. It would have been quite easy to go off work but I just don’t think it’s good for your mental health, so I’ve just carried on through this,” he said.