Most of my life, I would not have associated the word ‘passionate’ with skin cancer, but here I am, passionate about skin cancer. Sounds odd, I agree. How did that happen, you ask? The answer is this: I have had skin cancer for over twenty years, and it won’t go away. I have had numerous surgeries to remove cancerous areas. Each day I am looking in the mirror, checking for new areas. And each time I find a suspicious place on my skin, it causes anxiety.
The truth is, skin cancer can largely be avoided by practicing good sun habits – protect your skin from over-exposure to the sun, use sunscreen, wear hats and sun protective clothing, avoid being in the sun during its strongest hours, and above all, do not use tanning beds. Yes, there can be a genetic factor to skin cancer, but largely, it can be prevented. And this is why I am passionate about raising skin cancer awareness. When I was growing up, there wasn’t much, if any, information about the dangers of overexposure to the sun. Kids played outside all day long. Sunscreen, if we had it, was SPF 2 or 4. Sunburns were common for fair-skinned people like me. Then along came tanning beds, which were introduced to us as being much safer than the sun (and which we now know is not at all true). Now we have more access to information. Now we see the results of generations of people who had over-exposure to the sun and went to tanning beds. Now we know better, and now we can do better. I don’t want others to have to go through what I’m going through, and helping to raise awareness about skin cancer is high on my priority list.
I must admit, being an advocate for skin cancer awareness at times puts me out of my comfort zone. I’m not used to having my life, complete with photos of my surgical wounds and healing process, ‘out there’ for all to see. But I need to be brave and continue to tell my story. And you as well, dear hearts. Be brave. If you are battling skin cancer, keep fighting. Keep telling your story. Keep raising awareness. And if you are someone who isn’t practicing the best sun habits, be brave. It’s okay to not have the ‘perfect’ summer tan. It’s okay to not go along with the crowd in thinking that you have to have a tan to fit in. One story at a time, one person at a time, we can raise awareness, passionately and bravely.
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