JOR110H


 My Story

In high school, I was always one of those girls who was obsessed with tanning. I wanted the crispy tan to cover up my lighter tan skin, and never considered the consequences. I made excuses to my parents and extended family members, saying "it's to prepare for vacation in Florida so I don't get burned" or "I need to be tan for prom." It didn't seem like too much of an issue, and I never went every day of the week. The only consequences I thought of were having wrinkly skin when I got older. Although this addiction didn't affect me personally, it hit pretty hard to home.

In May of 2010, I learned that my uncle had gotten a lump under his arm removed. We all assumed it was nothing too important, just better safe than sorry. Weeks later when I returned home from my first year at college, my mom told me that my uncle had advanced stages of Melanoma and would be receiving radiation immediately. It was a scary thought, but he was a strong fighter and I had no doubt in my mind that he would beat it.

By late June, my parents had decided to have a family gathering at my house, thinking how long it had been since all my family had been together. With the circumstances, we were fortunate that almost all of our family members were able to attend. For me, this was the first time I would be seeing my uncle since hearing about the news, and I didn't prepare myself for what I was about to see.

The energetic, lively man who I once knew had escaped this older man's body. He had lost some of his hair, moved very slowly, and wore a sweater and heavy pants on the steaming, hot summer day. His voice had softened, and his speech was a bit impaired due to the spread of tumors to his brain. He was quiet, which was very unusual for his bubbly personality, and my aunt had told us this was the longest he was up without being tired. I was truly scared.

The determined fighter that he was, he wanted to take on any type of clinical trial to try to treat his cancer. Unfortunately, he was turned down by several of them due to the advanced stages of the Melanoma. At one of his appointments after the radiation was completed, he had learned that the number of tumors in his brain did not decrease, but doubled. They had spread to numerous organs in his body, causing him to not eat, impairing his speech, and giving him pain. Shortly after all of this news arose, he admitted that the pain was too much, and my aunt brought him to the hospital.

Immediate surgery was done to take out part of his intestine. He was put in the intensive care unit, and was not expected to make it through the weekend. We watched him lay, restless from the pain, unable to communicate. I couldn't look at him without choking up, feeling horrible about the pain he had to bear. One of the strongest men I knew was laying there, helpless, and the only I could do to help is pray.

Fortunately, he survived longer than doctors had expected, and he was moved out of the ICU. My mother and I continued to visit him at the hospital until he was moved to a nursing home for rehabilitation. The prognosis remained that he wouldn't make it past two or three months, but he was up talking to us and seeming better than before. I was so happy to believe that the doctors had been wrong, and my uncle would be back on his feet in no time.

Things were too good to be true, though, and his health began spiraling downhill. His energy declined, and his organs began shutting down. They put him in an induced coma, that would quickly ease the pain but shorten his life by hours. His organs finally shut down completely, and melanoma had beaten him.

Many believe that my drastic change from going tanning on a regular basis to stopping cold turkey could be considered the "melanoma scare", but I honestly couldn't imagine doing something that increases my risks of hurting my family the same way. My uncle never went indoor tanning, and could only remember one bad sunburn that he had when he was a kid, but the idea of me doing something that is a contributor to skin cancer would be disgraceful. This cancer took away an important man in my life, one who went to several of my soccer games, was proud of everything I did, and helped out so much in numerous ways. Whenever we said our farewells, he always said, "Be good," and I couldn't imagine disappointing him.

My uncle's short battle with Melanoma affected me immensely, and I will never forget all that he had to suffer through. I hope that other's can see my story from a secondary point of view, where I had to watch this horrible cancer take away a wonderful man, and realize how important it is to take care of your skin health and pass on tips to those who are close to you.


This free website was made using Yola.

No HTML skills required. Build your website in minutes.

Go to www.yola.com and sign up today!

Make a free website with Yola