Melanoma warrior story: Laura
We met Laura in July 2021. The heroine lives in the USA, in Southern California, where it is warm and the sun shines all year round.
Laura is a housewife and mom to numerous pets. Her Instagram feed is filled with photos of cats, fish and parrots, but among all this riot of colors and life, posts about transferred melanoma stand out especially.
Laura's story is an example of how early diagnosis can save a life. In October 2020, she was at a family doctor's appointment, and he noticed a mole on her arm, which he did not like in appearance. After examination and biopsy, already taken by a dermatologist, a diagnosis was made - melanoma 2 C (that is, hearing has grown into the skin by at least 4 mm).
“Since then, it's changed me so much. Because I love the sun. I never wore any sunscreen ever. If anything, if I was going to be gardening outside, I would pick the size of the house that had the sun on it. I just love sunbathing, back in the day I did a lot of tanning beds and I just loved everything about it and I never had any fear and melanoma never crossed my mind. So now I can't believe how dangerous that all was”.
According to Laura, melanoma is a common problem among California residents.
“Everybody's at the beaches, everybody is always running around in tank tops and shorts and flip flops and it's a way of life. Everybody feels healthier, with a glow, you know, the golden tan and I always strive for that, too. I felt better about myself when I was tan, which sounds silly”.
Laura admits that she loves the sun very much and did not use any means of protection before her illness: sunscreens, long-sleeved clothes, hats, etc. The heroine bluntly says that she loves the sun very much and has been sunbathing with pleasure all her life. However, after suffering from melanoma, Laura stopped appearing in the sun.
“I've been really very careful since my surgery and it's just been really hard because you see people on TV or you see even people walking in your neighborhood, you know with sunburn on their shoulders, and it just makes me cringe now because I worry so much like everybody's doing damage and they don't even know”.
On her Instagram page, a melanoma warrior through his story informs subscribers that there are “just spots”. Any change (started to grow, changed color, etc.) can be a sign of skin cancer and early diagnosis is very important here. And NOTA mole tracker can help with this.
“I just need to be aware and watch for changes and try and catch them as fastest possible by using your NOTA mole tracker. That's why I love your product, because it really makes people look at their skin and know what's going on, which I really needed to do all along”.
At the end of our warm conversation, I asked our heroine to give advice - how to protect yourself from melanoma?
“I would love people to think about when they're outside sun protection and sunscreen paths stay in the shade as much as possible if not all the time, like I do now. I do not go out in the sun and just that people would be really careful and if they have done sun or tanning beds in the past to really get to know their skin and don't just think everything's just a spot because the sun gave me plenty of those too spots and wrinkles. I would just love for everybody you know, just to take care and be aware of skin and changes and see a dermatologist which I never did until 2020”.
Laura's story is an example of how early diagnosis can save a life. In October 2020, she was at a family doctor's appointment, and he noticed a mole on her arm, which he did not like in appearance. After examination and biopsy, already taken by a dermatologist, a diagnosis was made - melanoma 2 C (that is, hearing has grown into the skin by at least 4 mm).
“Since then, it's changed me so much. Because I love the sun. I never wore any sunscreen ever. If anything, if I was going to be gardening outside, I would pick the size of the house that had the sun on it. I just love sunbathing, back in the day I did a lot of tanning beds and I just loved everything about it and I never had any fear and melanoma never crossed my mind. So now I can't believe how dangerous that all was”.
According to Laura, melanoma is a common problem among California residents.
“Everybody's at the beaches, everybody is always running around in tank tops and shorts and flip flops and it's a way of life. Everybody feels healthier, with a glow, you know, the golden tan and I always strive for that, too. I felt better about myself when I was tan, which sounds silly”.
Laura admits that she loves the sun very much and did not use any means of protection before her illness: sunscreens, long-sleeved clothes, hats, etc. The heroine bluntly says that she loves the sun very much and has been sunbathing with pleasure all her life. However, after suffering from melanoma, Laura stopped appearing in the sun.
“I've been really very careful since my surgery and it's just been really hard because you see people on TV or you see even people walking in your neighborhood, you know with sunburn on their shoulders, and it just makes me cringe now because I worry so much like everybody's doing damage and they don't even know”.
On her Instagram page, a melanoma warrior through his story informs subscribers that there are “just spots”. Any change (started to grow, changed color, etc.) can be a sign of skin cancer and early diagnosis is very important here. And NOTA mole tracker can help with this.
“I just need to be aware and watch for changes and try and catch them as fastest possible by using your NOTA mole tracker. That's why I love your product, because it really makes people look at their skin and know what's going on, which I really needed to do all along”.
At the end of our warm conversation, I asked our heroine to give advice - how to protect yourself from melanoma?
“I would love people to think about when they're outside sun protection and sunscreen paths stay in the shade as much as possible if not all the time, like I do now. I do not go out in the sun and just that people would be really careful and if they have done sun or tanning beds in the past to really get to know their skin and don't just think everything's just a spot because the sun gave me plenty of those too spots and wrinkles. I would just love for everybody you know, just to take care and be aware of skin and changes and see a dermatologist which I never did until 2020”.
The interview was conducted by Karina Kibo, COO Artes Electronics
