Madeleine Sami and Ladyhawke were enjoying their baby's arrival when the melanoma diagnosis came. Photo / Norrie Montgomery
Ladyhawke was a proud new mum to a beautiful little girl when her perfect world suddenly came crashing down.
Cancer - in the form of melanoma - was a diagnosis the Kiwi muso, real name Pip Brown, did not expect and would shock her wife Madeleine Sami and their friends and family.
But instead of sadness, she felt a different emotion.
"I was so angry. I just couldn't believe it,'' she told the Weekend Herald.
"I had just had this amazing little daughter and then this happened.
Earlier this week she spoke about her journey at the Cancer Care at a Crossroad Conference in Wellington, including how she had first spotted the mole behind one of her legs and knew that she needed to see a doctor about it.
"I sort of notice things like that anyway and I couldn't pinpoint though how long it had been there for," she told the Weekend Herald in an exclusive interview.
Life these days, however, is about monitoring even the tiniest of freckles and constantly being sun smart when out and about.
"Billy Jean, she's always got a hat. When we go swimming ... she's covered head to toe in a rashie and with sunscreen.
"I just want it to be second nature for her when she goes to the beach, to make sure she's got a rash top on, make sure she wears sunscreen."
Brown said she was compelled to speak publicly about her experience in the hope it would motivate others to get a mole map examination done or to be more careful when out in the sun.
It was important people remembered New Zealand had the highest rate of skin cancer in the world, she said.