Melissa Garrett, 51, has none of the traditional risk factors forskin cancer.
Heres her story, as told to writer Amy Norton.
On paper, I dont seem like someone who needs to avoid the sun at all costs.
Courtesy of Melissa Garrett
Im not the fair-skinned, freckled redhead who turns pink within a minute of going outside without SPF 50.
Other than that, I never burneddespite being a runner and spending a lot of time outdoors.
(And I only usedtanning bedsa few times in high school, like before the prom.)
I wasnt the demographic for it.
I had no history of skin cancer in my family.
I was 36, just shy of my 37th birthday.
How could I have skin cancer?
And Im okay with thatIve accepted it.
Its how I stay alive and well.
By sheer luck, my timing was just right.
He took a skin biopsy, and about a week later I got the call.
It turned out that the mole was melanoma.
the rarest and deadliest form of skin cancer.
Not the news you want to hear, but he was dead-on.
Within a year, all these basal cell cancers began showing up, initially on my legs and chest.
And they might scab up or bleed a little if they got irritated.
But when you have as many as I had….
Lets just say easy is not the word.
My treatment was topicalchemotherapy, which is medication you apply to the skin yourself.
Now that would usually mean spot treating the BCC areas twice a day for about two weeks.
That sounded really weird to me at first.
Three winters of treatment.
But it didnt end there.
Like I said, Ive been getting regular skin exams for years.
Amid all these BCC fireworks, I also got another diagnosis.
It was a second melanoma, on my right leg.
This time, though, Id actually spotted the melanoma myself.
I mean, I didntknowit was melanoma until my doctor biopsied it.
But, having developed a keen eye by that time, I knew when something wasnt right.
So I pointed it out to my doctor.
Thankfully, we caught it early and, again, I only needed surgery.
One question none of my doctors can answer is, why?
Why would someone like me have all these skin cancers from such a young age?
(I have lots of questions.
I think I drive my doctors bonkers.)
What I do know is, I have to keep doing what Im doing.
At my most recent skin check, my doctor found about a dozen spots.
Some were growths calledactinic keratoses, which can sometimes turn into cancer.
Some other spots turned out to be BCCs.
As of this writing, Im scheduled for surgery on that one.
Ill be having surgery to remove that one as well.
So when I called it a cancer journey, I meant it.
I live on the North Carolina coast, four minutes from the beach, and Ilovethe beach.
Ive always loved to fish and be out on the water in a boat.
But skin cancer has meant staying ashore, out of the intensity of the suns rays.
I admit it can be hard to find a balance between that vigilance and just living my life.
I do try not to live in fear and always have things to look forward to.
Protect yourself in the sun.
Do these things whether you think youre high risk of skin cancer or not.
Sometimes its frustrating, because its a reminder of the cancer.
But its also a reminder that Im a survivor.
