Dear team, I am a member of the support staff. I do not run. Last year when I heard about this, I joined the support staff. This year my husband Jamie Stanek is running. As I sit her crying over Christine Morgan Meyers pinned post, I wanted to let you know why I support this team so strongly. Like most of you, my life has been touched with cancer. A LOT. I personally have been fighting skin cancer for 12 years now first diagnosed the week I found out I was pregnant with my Son (Feb 2002). So far I am winning. Until last month it was just Basal Cell Carcinoma, and Pre-Squamous Cell Carcinomas. In late November, I had a different growth show up on my nose. It was changing rapidly. I did what all skin cancer patients do, I called my dermatologist. I was seen on Dec. 4. It was biopsied. It acted very different after the biopsy. It bled. More than anything had ever bled before. (And I have had lots of facial and body skin biopsys). I knew with the rapid growth and bleeding this was going to be different. I have dreaded that for the previous 12 years. It was no surprise when two weeks later I got the biopsy results. Full on Squamous Cell Carcinoma. A bit of back history is that I lost an uncle to this one. I have another (but not blood) uncle who has been significantly disfigured by this one. The normal Metastasis rate for this cancer is low. But despite that ~3000 people die from it each year (2-10% of people diagnosed with it). With a family history of a blood relative dieing from it, I am at the higer side of that list. Despite knowing the odds were strongly in my favor, I lost my #*@&. I got the tumor removed the following Monday. (I was told the first available was in MARCH!) it was only through insisting and telling the receptionist my history that I was able to get it removed the Monday before Christmas. They aparently had got it all at the biopsy but the margins were too close to call so I had Mohs surgery. The dermatological surgeon found a basal cell at the edge of his first cut and got that while we were there. Skin cancer will always be apart of me. It is the joy of my genetics, heritage and childhood growing up in Southern California. One day it may win. Until then I choose to fight. My surgeon and dermatologist will be a part of my life at least every 6 months. From the Skin Cancer Information site here is what we all need to know: Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States. More than 3.5 million skin cancers in over two million people are diagnosed annually. Each year there are more new cases of skin cancer than the combined incidence of cancers of the breast, prostate, lung and colon. One in five Americans will develop skin cancer in the course of a lifetime. It is also the easiest to cure, if diagnosed and treated early. When allowed to progress, however, skin cancer can result in disfigurement and even death. Thank you all for reading my story. Thank you even more for working so hard to help raise money for the ACS. The reason most cancers are on the decline is through the research and treatments you are helping to fund. THANK YOU!
Posted on: Mon, 27 Jan 2014 13:16:45 +0000
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