Melanoma warrior story: Julia
We met Julia in May 2021, during Melanoma Awareness Month. She’s an inspiring melanoma warrior and runs a blog to help others learn more about skin cancer prevention and treatment.
Julia is 26. She lives in Germany, aims for a bachelor’s degree in e-commerce, and works remotely like many of us nowadays. There’s one thing that differs: she’s a melanoma survivor.
She almost got her diagnosis as a Christmas present in 2020. Her melanoma was successfully removed.
Since that, she has learned a lot more about skin cancer. She also found out that her grandma got cancer surgery a couple of years before. But the old lady literally got cancer removed without her knowing because she simply didn’t listen to what the doctor was saying (just in case you are worried, she is fine).
Julia says, that the biggest problems of skin cancer are lack of knowledge and lack of responsibility. The outcome is the growing number of cancer cases among younger people. She admits, that despite having skin problems, she was thoughtless about cancer herself.
She also confessed that telling people that she had cancer was unexpectedly hard because it eventually changed her own perception of herself as a positive person with no negative things in her life.
Julia tells her story in a blog and gives basic advice on how to reduce the risk of skin cancer. Don’t use tanning beds, use UV protection, do self-checks. She’s a Nota Mole Tracker early adopter and uses it to track the changes in her skin.
"So it helps me. In the beginning, I looked every day for something that changed. And when I thought I have spotted it, I was like “Oh you had your last doctor appointment three days ago, you can’t go back there now”. It was stressful and now if I think I have something, I just scan it and feel ok".
She almost got her diagnosis as a Christmas present in 2020. Her melanoma was successfully removed.
Since that, she has learned a lot more about skin cancer. She also found out that her grandma got cancer surgery a couple of years before. But the old lady literally got cancer removed without her knowing because she simply didn’t listen to what the doctor was saying (just in case you are worried, she is fine).
Julia says, that the biggest problems of skin cancer are lack of knowledge and lack of responsibility. The outcome is the growing number of cancer cases among younger people. She admits, that despite having skin problems, she was thoughtless about cancer herself.
She also confessed that telling people that she had cancer was unexpectedly hard because it eventually changed her own perception of herself as a positive person with no negative things in her life.
Julia tells her story in a blog and gives basic advice on how to reduce the risk of skin cancer. Don’t use tanning beds, use UV protection, do self-checks. She’s a Nota Mole Tracker early adopter and uses it to track the changes in her skin.
"So it helps me. In the beginning, I looked every day for something that changed. And when I thought I have spotted it, I was like “Oh you had your last doctor appointment three days ago, you can’t go back there now”. It was stressful and now if I think I have something, I just scan it and feel ok".
The interview was conducted by Karina Kibo, COO Artes Electronics
