Captain Jason Chambers has spent the last three decades sailing people across the world on luxury yachts – spending hours each day in the blistering sun.
Still, when a tiny brown sun spot that he’d had on his ribs for a decade turned out to be melanoma, he was shocked by his ‘naivete.’
In an exclusive interview with DailyMail.com, Chambers said: ‘I’ve been on the water for three decades now and I thought… that’s never going to be a problem.
‘But it is a problem.’
Melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, affects about 200,000 Americans per year – and in Chambers’ native Australia, someone is diagnosed with melanoma every 30 minutes.
But Chambers, 52, never thought it would happen to him – until he was inspired by a friend on their own skin cancer journey to get his spot checked.
He said: ‘I thought to myself, I should go get mine checked because I haven’t gotten a check for that in five years… it just felt different in my body – my intuition.’
Chambers went to his doctor in Bali where he was living at the time and got the sun spot removed and biopsied. Shortly after, in December 2024, he received an email telling him he had melanoma.
Captain Jason Chambers is known for being at the helm of luxury yachts on the reality TV show Below Deck Down Under
Chambers underwent two procedures to remove the sun spot from his ribs
Chambers was stunned, but was traveling to promote his Bravo reality show Below Deck Down Under so he scrambled to try and get a doctors appointment for when he returned.
However, he was discouraged by how challenging it was, telling DailyMail.com: ‘It’s such a long wait to get in to a dermatologist, which is a sad thing.’
Eventually he was able to get an appointment with a doctor in Sydney – but the challenges didn’t end there.
While doctors in Bali removed the spot, Australian physicians weren’t satisfied with some details in the report, which didn’t include what stage melanoma Chambers had or what margins the skin cancer showed.
While they estimated stage 2, which meant Chambers would have to undergo a more invasive procedure to remove muscle around the spot on his ribs, doctors told him if he could get the biopsy shipped to Australia, they could give him a more precise diagnosis and prognosis.
However, this required weeks of logistical planning and red tape to cut through, which worried Chambers, and he began doing his own research.
He told this website: ‘As that period went on, I started researching and [questioned] how was I so naïve? How did I not just see a dermatologist every year prior?
‘That process was just so upsetting.’
Melanoma kills more than 8,300 Americans each year, according to the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF), but about 90 percent of cases are considered to be preventable through vigilance about sun safety.
The Melanoma Institute of Australia reports 95 percent of melanomas are caused by overexposure to UV radiation from the sun, but if caught early, 90 percent of cases can be cured by surgery.
Melanoma is also the second most common cancer in Australian men and kills about 1,300 people overall per year in the country.
The superyacht captain said doctors told him there is only a five percent chance his melanoma will return
In an interview with DailyMail.com Chambers showed off his melanoma scar, which he described as being the size of a pinky finger
On Christmas Eve, Chambers finally had answers. Australian doctors said the team in Bali had gotten good margins. All they had to do was remove a little bit more near the original site but there was only a five percent chance of his melanoma returning.
Then, he would be due for follow ups every few months.
Chambers said his scar is about the size of his pinky finger and his first follow up is in just a few weeks, and he has pledged to get checks annually going forward.
After his diagnosis the yacht captain took to social media to talk about his ordeal, which he said led to a flurry of people sharing similar stories.
Moved by what he was hearing, Chambers was inspired and is now using his platform to raise awareness. He will even be the emcee for the Melanoma Research Foundation’s annual gala in New York City in October.
He said: ‘I think my social media – I haven’t been trying to sell things – my social media is only used for a few pillars, which is education, sustainability and my health, and I work with a few foundations.
‘When MRF reached out to me and asked if I would participate, it’s within my pillars and it’s very hard to find a foundation that’s got so much substance.
‘They asked me to be a special guest. I don’t know how special I am, but it’s actually quite humbling. I’m getting little goose bumps now.’
Chambers told DailyMail.com after he posted about his melanoma diagnosis on social media, people reached out to him to share similar stories
Above is a picture of the spot on Chambers’ ribs that turned out to be melanoma
The average lifetime risk of developing melanoma is about three percent – or one in 33 people – but the risk increases if a person has a family history of the disease.
Chambers did not have a family history.
Rates of new melanomas vary – in people younger than 50, they’ve been stable among women and have declined by about one percent per year in men since early the 2000s.
The five-year survival rate for melanoma is 94 percent, but that drops to 35 percent for melanomas that have spread and could be even lower depending on far the cancer has progressed.
Now, Chambers told this website he is following the Australian mantra of ‘slip, slop, slap.’
He explained: ‘I’m staying out of the sun. Slip, slop, slap we call it in Australia – we slip on a hat, slop on some sunscreen and slap on a shirt.’
And he is more aware now, he added, wishing he could go back and tell himself to cover up, wear sunscreen and limit his daily sun exposure.
He told DailyMail.com: ‘Skin cancer is happening… it is going to happen to you if you are overexposed. So minimize [time in the sun], protect yourself, put some sunglasses on every time you go out. There’s one thing we know, putting on a long sleeve shirt, putting on a hat and putting some sunglasses on is only going to do you well.
‘So I wish I could tell myself… still go about your life but look after yourself.’
And the thing he hopes comes out of his journey and his advocacy – making skin checks and dermatologist appointments more accessible.
Chambers said: ‘It was very difficult to get a booking… and I was a little bit anxious during that period to get more information. I would love nothing more than to have skin checks available to the people that need it and can’t afford it
‘It’s an easy thing to do. It’s a quick scan. It shouldn’t have to be hundreds of dollars and a wait for three weeks when you’re looking at some skin cancers that can actually wipe you out in six months. It’s a huge thing. So let’s just have that.’
Annual full-body skin checks are recommended to spot skin cancer early, but people can perform self-checks periodically at home and visit a dermatologist sooner if they find anything suspicious.
When conducting a self-exam, people should be on the look out for the ABCDEs of skin cancer
When conducting a self-check, people should be on the look out for the ABCDEs of skin cancer.
A is for asymmetry: Is the mole symmetrical all the way around? Melanomas are often uneven and have different sized and shaped halves.
B is for border: Does the mole have clear borders? Melanomas are more likely to have irregular or jagged edges.
C is for color: Is the color the same throughout the mole? Melanomas are more likely to have multiple shades.
D is for diameter: How big is the mole? Typically they should be the size of the end of a pencil and melanomas tend to be larger.
Lastly, E is for evolving: Has the mole changed over time? Most benign moles stay the same year-to-year, but melanomas can grow in size and shape and change colors over time.
