Melanoma Awareness Month

May 17, 2011: Today, I learned quite by accident (through a post on Facebook) that May is Melanoma Awareness Month. I think that's terrific, but why is May half over and we're just hearing about this?? Where are the TV ads, the radio spots, the junk ads that come up while you're Google-ing something to prod our awareness of Melanoma Awareness? It makes me a little sad, but was I sufficiently aware of melanoma before it became the catalyst of my everyday life? No. It was just another disease that hit other people, other families. Not mine. Not me. Was I careful in the sun? No. I'm from the generation of laying out on the lawn on a blinding white sheet (to capture more sun rays) and rubbing myself from head to toe with baby oil (again, to capture more of that elusive sun). None of that sunscreen for me. I was too fair, too white, and I wanted to be brown as a berry (are berries brown?). Was I a sun "worshiper"? No. I just wanted to look good in a pair of shorts and not have to wear foundation makeup in the hot summer months. Did I ever have a severe sunburn? Yes. Probably about once a summer, on the first good scorching day. I've had blisters and peeling and all of that good stuff. Did I ever sunburn the top of my head? Of course. I was a girl of the 70s, with long hair parted straight down the middle - I'm sure there was a bright red streak down that fair white part at least once. Who knows when that turned into this? I'll probably never know.

Am I afraid to go out in the sun now? A little bit. I bought some 70 SPF sunscreen the other day. I also bought a hat, a big-brimmed hat, for those days I hope to go walking around my neighborhood soon. And though I'll do all I can to protect myself from another sunburn, I know enough about melanoma now to realize that it's not just caused by the sun. Dr. Grossmann told me that little children who have never been exposed to a sunburn have developed melanoma. He also told me that melanoma can be found between your TOES - how weird is that? It's just a strange, crazy, mean disease that charges in and unpacks its suitcase and plops itself down in your cells. But, certainly, more people would be allowed to keep their innocence and never have to go through biopsies and surgeries and radiation and chemo and life-changing scenarios if they are more careful in the sun and check their skin regularly.

I knew all about regular breast exams and mammograms. I knew about colonoscopies after the age of 50. I knew about lung cancer and prostate cancer and brain tumors and all sorts of other bad guys. I knew to watch the moles I could see for any changes. But, I didn't know that the average person should have a full body screening by a dermatologist for skin cancer and melanoma. That spot on top of my head was well hidden, identified only by Dr. Robison as he combed through every hair on my scalp. I never would have seen it. Maybe if it had been caught last year or the year before...

There's no going back. What's done is done. But, if just one person finds out more about melanoma today than they knew yesterday, it's all worth it. If my family can be protected from this wicked disease in any way, it's worth it. If just one person goes in for a check-up, it's worth it. If a cure can be found through all of the suffering, so that none of my precious grands have to worry about melanoma, it's worth it. If we can all be aware, what a difference it would make in the world - especially in the little world I live in now...