Meet Melanoma Girl!

In continuing my reading and research on Melanoma, I have discovered quite a few websites written by those directly affected my the disease.  Many simply share their day-to-day struggles with cancer while others offer a little more insight and information.  One such site is http://melanomagirl.com/.


I ran into Melanoma Girl's (MG for short) story while browsing through the Melanoma Research Foundation site.  She was like so many of us...oblivious to the affects of the sun at an early age and wearing her sun burns with pride.  There was very little sun protection when we were kids, and beach or pool rats like MG and myself were definitely exposed to the sun far more than we should have been.  I went to bed with the smell of Solarcaine and aloe many nights in my youthful summers.

Anyhow, back to MG.  She found a new mole on her body when she reached her 30's, but still put off having it looked at for a year.  When she finally did so, she discovered she had Stage 3 melanoma.  Not a good thing.  She's had to have it removed, along with the lymph node it invaded.  She had to undergo immunotherapy which, according to her, had some nasty side effects.  In  her words, "it was a tough year."

Her cancer is in remission and she's a survivor.  With this new lease on life, she is dedicating herself to making others aware of melanoma, and to encouraging prevention.  She has some great awareness campaigns such as "SPF - Sexy Pale Female," "Respect the Rays," and "Proud to Be Pale" and she promises some fun products coming out soon for 2011!  I've told her that her website is one that I hope "Black is the New Pink" will one day mirror.

Please check out her website (Google "Melanoma Girl") and help support her work.  And if nothing else, just please spread the word, and spread the lotion!