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Skin cancer - please be careful

9 replies

ediemay · 14/06/2006 00:35

Hi all,

I sent the same message around this time last year.

I hope you're all enjoying the beautiful sunny weather but PLEASE be careful, at home and abroad, and protect your little ones.

I grew up in Africa with a Mum who was considered mad (at the time) to cover us in high factor creams and insist we wore hats and Tshirts to go swimming. I am so grateful to her.

30 years on I've had every type of skin cancer going.
It started 12 years ago with a basal cell cancer and six years ago I had a serious malignamt melanoma - I'm still fighting the after-effects. I will have checks and treatment for the rest of my life but I am so lucky. Melanoma is a fast, fast killer and its secondary cancers are brain, lung and liver.

Please use my experience to benefit you and yours.

Have a fantastic summer and remember:

Use high factor creams - 25 and up

Children need a factor 50 or 60

COVER UP - creams can't do it all - wear long sleeves, hats, sarongs

Sunburn means you are at increased risk of skin cancer

A sun tan means that skin is irreversibly damaged - the tan is the skin's defence response to the sun

Redheads, fair haired people, those with blue or green eyes and those whose skin will freckle are at increased risk because they have less pigment than others

Babies and children have very very fragile skin and are at great risk

Make sure there is shade in your garden or yard for the children to play in

The treatment I have had has been harrowing and painful. The scars I have are large and very ugly - on my face, forehead, arms, ankles and chest. Please be safe - enjoy the long, lovely days of summer and remember how beautiful your natural skin colour is.

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notanotter · 14/06/2006 00:44

thankyou i will be more careful!

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queenrollo · 14/06/2006 08:17

today my is my friend's funeral.....she was in her early 30's and leaves behind a loving family including her three year old son. she was diagnosed with skin cancer when her son was 10 weeks old, and has been fighting it even when she was told in April the had cancer spread.

PLEASE PLEASE be careful in the sun.

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SSSandy · 14/06/2006 08:32

ediemay I'm sorry to hear about your cancer I grew up in Africa too but my parents didn't protect us from the sun, they said in those days people didn't really think about it. I have a lot of moles on my skin which I think result from that.

How did you first discover that you had skin cancer? How did it manifest itself?

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ediemay · 16/06/2006 00:35

hi SSSandy

Don't worry too much about having moles. Some people, especially women, are prone to moles but most don't become cancerous. The thing to keep looking for is CHANGE - in colour, size, shape especially. If you had a lot of exposure at an early age it could be worth asking for a check-up and from then on keeping a close watch yourself.

Mine first manifested itself as a BCC (basal cell cancer, not serious, not invasive) on my forehead. I noticed it as a 'spot' which didn't heal but instead became a bit crusty and would weep occasionally. I asked my GP about it and was told not to be silly! I asked for a referral and it all went from there. The melanoma became noticeable 2 years later, as an asymmetrical freckle on my forearm which developed a pale halo around it.

I am fine, honest, just very keen to stop others going through it if I can - especially children.

Have a lovely summer

em

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