I recently discovered this (above post title), and found it very
odd that the two cancers that have drastically changed my family share this
month in the cancer awareness cycle. So, to bring awareness to these I
thought I would share my perspective on how these diseases affected me and my
family forever. While brain tumors
aren't necessarily preventable, skin cancer is most definitely
preventable. There are a plethora of misconceptions
about skin cancer that hopefully I can shed some light on when sharing my
story. The biggest one being is that
"it's no big deal." However,
melanoma is a BIG DEAL. Melanoma is
deadly.
This may take a while...
Part I
It has been eight years since my family buried my father
and my brother-in-law. They each fought
and lost their battles to cancer and died five months apart.
I suppose the best place to start is April 2003. Unfortunately at 20 years old, and the
youngest in the family I do not know too many details of the beginning of my
father's diagnosis. I was a college
student, I was a self-absorbed spoiled brat, and my parents and sisters treated
me like a child - continuing to enable my bratty behavior. What I do know is that my father wore hard
contact lenses, and took very good care of his lenses. Such good care that he could go a few years
between ophthalmologist appointments. What
he did not know, and what most people do not know, is that melanoma can begin in the eye.
When an ophthalmologist dilates your eyes and shines that bright light,
one of the things he is looking for is ocular melanoma. My father spent a lot of time outdoors. He served as a naval officer in Vietnam -
long before UV tinted sunglasses that wrap around the periphery of your eye and
good old SPF 50. He had fair skin, light
blue eyes, sunburned easily. The perfect
combination for melanoma.
