Please watch this.
Cancer is one of the things that truly terrifies me that I have no power over. Sure, I have a fear of jumping off a bridge with a bungee cord tied to me, but I can overcome that if need be. I can get up in front of a crowd of people to speak, turning bright red in the process, but survive.
From the age of sixteen I spent countless hours in the sun as a lifeguard and swim instructor. As a result there are countless burns from those years. There were days I would roll into work with enough time to get out on the pool deck but without enough time to slather on the sunblock. Or the summer after my grade twelve year, where it was mid August and I was the darkest I had ever been in my life - surely I didn't need to apply sunblock that one day I was running a bit late. I most certainly went home with a sunburn that day. Perhaps not severe, but it was there.
Add to the fact that I'm fair skinned, blue eyed, have seasonal freckles and natural red highlights in my hair and I know that my risk is high. And while skin cancer doesn't run in my family, cancer in general is very prominent.
I used to joke that I would have skin cancer by the time I was twenty five because of all the burns I had over the years. I'm currently twenty eight and now live in fear of finding a new spot, mole or any other sort of change in my skin.
Two summers ago I found a small freckle/bump on my forehead near my hairline that I had never noticed before. Cue panic. I made an appointment with my doctor to have it checked out. I feared that she would make note of it in my chart, tell me to "keep an eye on it" and send me on my way, even after explaining why I was being so pro-active.
Luckily she is an amazing doctor and pro-active herself. She completely understood my fears, had me make an appointment to get it removed the following week and then sent off for testing. She also removed a mole that I've had since I was born at the same time and sent it away, too. The wait for the results was nerve wracking and you can imagine my sigh of relief when they both came back negative.
When I was younger, a burn meant a bit of pain for a day or two - and then it would melt into a nice tan. Now I'm much more diligent with sunblock. Amazingly during the ten days that I was in Grand Cayman last winter I only got one burn - and relatively minor compared to what I've suffered in the past. Every day year round I apply a moisturizer with SPF 15 in it to my face.
Even though I love how a dark tan looks and adore having a nose covered in freckles brought on by the sun, I have come to embrace my fair skin and do my best to prevent any more damage to my skin. I'm not going to avoid the sun at all costs, but I'm smarter about how I approach it.
Because it just isn't worth the added risk.
