Influencer Given Months to Live After Cancer Battle: 'Fallen Into Oblivion'

A 28-year-old influencer with skin cancer has shared that her disease is terminal in a heartbreaking social media update.

Natalie Fornasier, a writer, content creator and health activist from Sydney, Australia, was diagnosed with stage III metastatic melanoma eight years ago and has been raising awareness about the disease ever since.

The diagnosis came after doctors identified a mole on her fourth toe as melanoma, which at that point had spread to her lymph nodes.

Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that forms in melanocytes—the cells that produce melanin, which is a natural pigment. It's the most serious form of skin cancer because it has a tendency to spread to other parts of the body—a process referred to as metastasis.

The American Cancer Society estimated that there would be around 100,000 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in the United States in 2022, as well as more than 7,500 deaths from the disease.

Sunburn and intermittent sun exposure have been linked to increased risk of melanoma, which is why dermatologists recommend the use of sunscreen to protect exposed areas of skin.

On Thursday, Fornasier published a post on Instagram—where she has more than 13,000 followers—revealing that in July this year, doctors had told her the cancer had progressed to stage IV, that it was terminal and she only had months left to live.

"Well, where do I begin. The last four months have been brutal," Fornasier said in the post. "[Terminal is] a word I had been skating around for years, a word that terrified me because I always knew it could be a possibility. But it's also a frame of mind I never anticipated I would have to enter."

"As I descended into what it meant to be terminal—I entered the deepest hole of depression I've ever experienced," she said. "Every day for the past four months I've cried and screamed. I've fallen into oblivion crying for [my fiancé] Alexander, the heartbreak, the love I would be leaving—for the life we were supposed to have. I've cried for my family. I've cried myself hoarse about the fear of death. I've screamed for the children I would never have, the growing old, my friends, the life I was supposed to live."

The 28-year-old said it has been difficult coming to terms with the fact that she was dying, particularly at her young age.

"Everything about it feels wrong," she said. "The conversations I've had to have, the plans I've had to make, the places my thoughts have gone and are still going—none of it is natural. It's painful."

Fornasier has been sharing her cancer story in writing and various online platforms. But she said the decision to publicize the news that she was terminal had been a challenging one to make. In the end, she came to the conclusion that sharing the news would be a way to take control over her own agency.

"I am the one telling my story, as I always have," she said. "There are so many things in my life I can't control but this I can."

She said doctors don't know exactly how long she has left, and that she could bleed out at any moment, or her organs could fail.

"I don't know if I'll see Christmas," she said. "Life is so unpredictable; it really reminds you of how little to no control we have over our lives. But what I do know is that I'm thankful and grateful for my life—even though it's been a 'struggle' it's been MY life. Mine. And I've loved living it."

"Although dying feels incredibly lonely, I've never felt more loved than I do right now—which is one of the only positive things about approaching the end," she said. "Life and mortality are in our faces all the time—we just choose to ignore it because it's in our nature. For me, and for the last four months, it's never been more real. Maybe because in staring down death every day for the past eight years, I've been forced to know that life—every single minute of it—is borrowed time. So let me leave you with this: live EVERY DAY. And just love as much as you can."

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