 |
|
My Story In July of 2004 I had a mole removed that was malignant melanoma. I was then sent to a general surgeon for a wide excision removing a silver dollar size chunk from my inner knee. I was told that the melanoma was contained to the biopsy site and that "I was one of the lucky ones" He also told me he didn't feel it was necessary to do a follow up with an oncologist. (Big mistake) Me thinking what most people think that skin cancer was just something that happens on the skin and you just get it taken off and that's the end of it, went on my merry way thinking I was "lucky" 1 year and 1 month later on August of 2005 I became very ill with an upper respiratory infection and a fever. I also had a terrible cough that wouldn't go away. Dr. after Dr. sent me home with steroid packs and antibiotics but I just kept getting worse. One weekend I finally got desperate and went to an urgent care facility and they did an x-ray. The x-ray showed pneumonia and "a shadow" From there I was sent to have a chest CT scan, which stated nodules on
both lungs and "worrisome for malignancy and metastastic
disease." I was then given an abdomen and pelvic CT scan and had a lung biopsy
done. After all was said and done the tests revealed that I was a stage IV
melanoma cancer victim. It was on both lungs, in my lymph nodes, on my
liver and hot spots to my hip and shoulder bones. The average life expectancy of a stage IV melanoma patient is 6-9 months. I was then referred to a melanoma specialist
Dr. Jared Gollob at Duke University
Medical center. Some of his first words to me was "we have something
for this" we discussed interlukin-2 (IL-2) and decided that this treatment
could potentially save my life. I underwent 6 treatments of a week long each in the hospital of high
dose IL-2 over a course of 9 months. This was a very difficult treatment
and certainly no walk in the park but I knew it was the best chance I had
at saving my life. Sadly in some form I will be fighting this cancer for the rest of my life because of the high reoccurrence rate. Let this be a lesson to those of you that think tanning is harmless;
there is no tan out there worth dying for.  So please if you or someone you know is tanning or using a tanning bed, tell them my story. Tell them that the tan they are getting is "a killer tan" literally. Melanoma is happening all around us and until we learn to practice sun safety, more and more people will be diagnosed and die from this disease. I thank God for each and every day I am given. I appreciate every blade of grass and every flower that has bloomed. I am truly blessed with the support of my family, my wonderful husband and friends. I don't know what tomorrow brings or the day after that, but I do know that I am here today and that now I have a mission and that mission is to tell my story and to warn others about the dangers of tanning and to hopefully save lives one person at a time. How will I be doing this you ask? I will need some corporate or private sponsors that will be willing to make donations to my cause, the sponsors money will go towards getting t-shirts and hats printed with my logo of Operation Sun Shield and I will be assembling give-away education bags that will contain the t-shirts and hats and lots of education literature and pamphlets, they will also contain sun screen samples and other tools to teach the public about being sun smart. I will then be attending different events out with the public and setting up a booth to start giving away the education bags to start teaching people about the dangers of tanning and how to be sun smart. Hopefully creating awareness to how deadly skin cancer really can be. And If I can save just one life, all my efforts will be worth it. I would love to have your support, please join my cause and contact me at JaneCaddell@OperationSunShield.org Sincerely, "Let there be hope"
|
 |