With this ring ...

February 2nd -- Today my only daughter Jaime should be celebrating her wedding anniversary with the love of her life ... but melanoma had other plans. It stole her dreams, her hopes, her happiness, her future. It is a horrific and evil disease that was an uninvited guest at her wedding, and I HATE that it shared in her most special day!

Jaime was a very organized young woman (not taking after her mom, for sure!), and for 2 years Jaime had meticulously planned out every detail of her wedding. It was to be perfect ... a fairy tale wedding befitting a princess. It started with the date ... 2/2/02. Jaime was into numbers, and this was the date she claimed for her most special day. 

Everything was going according to plan ... except that she left the groom unsupervised at his last haircut before the wedding. When he appeared sporting his much-too-short haircut (and if I recall the story correctly, to make matters worse the hair stylist who did the deed was an ex-girlfriend) ... well, to say Jaime was furious would be an understatement, and the marital bliss almost ended before it had even begun! But love won out and the wedding was back on track.

A couple days before the wedding, she was trying on her wedding gown. I was buttoning her up in the back while admiring her beauty in that gown ... and my heart skipped a beat. I felt a lump in the middle of her back, like a pea under the skin. I didn't want to alarm her, but as calmly as I could, I told her about my discovery and suggested that when she returned from her honeymoon in a couple weeks, she have her oncologist check it out. It was almost time for her annual visit with her surgical oncologist at Dallas Baylor anyway.

You see, Jaime, who had regrettably visited tanning beds frequently in high school and college, had been diagnosed 4 years earlier, when she was 20 years old, with Stage IIA melanoma, an often fatal form of skin cancer. However, it had been found fairly early, and after the initial surgery to remove it from her upper back, it had not reared its ugly head again. Her prognosis was great. Matter of fact, her doctor had declared her "cured" at her 3-year visit ... but that was wishful thinking because melanoma is never cured.

Well, the wedding went off perfectly. Jaime was glowing as she became Mrs. Jaime Regen Rea, and as far as I know, everyone had a great time. But no one else knew what I did ... that it was not only the radiant bride and her daddy walking down that aisle. Melanoma was tagging along as well ... as unwelcome as it was.

Now I have to admit it ... I am a crier. I cry at funerals, weddings, bar mitzvahs, births, graduations, award ceremonies ... and I have even been known to cry when my son scored a goal at a soccer game. Any time my heart is bursting with emotion (either good or bad), my eyes become waterfalls! Jaime's wedding was no exception. 

My tears were contagious, and soon tissue boxes were circulating among the bridesmaids. Even the groom had watering eyes. Theirs were crying tears of joy ... but mine had more meaning than they or anyone could possibly know. My tears were tears of love and pride, and they were falling because I was grateful to be sharing my daughter's happiest of days ... but they were also streaming down my face because I knew that her cancer was back. I had no idea the extent of its return ... but I knew the Black Beast had returned and I was very, very scared!

Turns out, my fears were confirmed, and all those bittersweet tears were just the first of so many more to come ...


Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)


Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)

What Is It Going to Take???

Really ... I was really going to try to go easy on you and not be so prolific with these blogs; however, it is difficult to curb my enthusiasm because so many different topics come to my attention every day that I want to share with you. And yesterday a very important study (International Prevalence of Indoor Tanning) was released in JAMA Dermatology about the use and abuse of tanning beds, and I just couldn't help myself!

When I read that the databases for this research were last accessed on March 16, 2013, I knew it was destined for a blog. March 16 marks the anniversary of my daughter Jaime's death, and unfortunately, I am (along with too many others) the face of reality where tanning beds and melanoma are concerned.

The results of this study are sad ... no, worse than that ... they are devastating. The use of tanning beds is much worse than we had previously thought.

• Over 1 in 3 adults (35%) in the US have used tanning beds in their lifetime; 13% of adults in the US and Canada have used them in the past year. 

And it gets even more heart-breaking.

• The majority of college students in the US (59%) have used them, 43% in the past year. 

But wait ... there's more.

• In Western countries, 1 in 5 (19%) adolescents 18 and younger (17% in US and Canada) have used indoor tanning, with 18% (10% in US) having used them in the past year. 

That's a lot of DNA damage going on right there!

This new study also states the astounding fact that almost a half a million new cases of skin cancer (and more than 10,000 melanoma cases) are attributable to indoor tanning each year in the US and Canada, Europe, and Australia. Or to put it another way ... JAMA Dermatology says that "it is possible that the number of skin cancer cases due to indoor tanning will continue to surpass the number of lung cancer cases due to smoking in coming years." That boggles my mind!

Why is this important, you ask. Very simply, tanning beds cause cancer, cancer that can kill you. Just ask me to tell you Jaime's story! And why should you care? Because at the rates melanoma cases are increasing, you or a loved will be touched by this horrific disease ... and it will not be pretty.

The facts are that the World Health Organization has classified tanning beds and their UV radiation as a Group 1 carcinogen (cancer-causing substance) along with plutonium, arsenic, and tobacco. The risk of melanoma, a too-often fatal form of skin cancer, increases by 75% when tanning beds are first used before the age of 35. Research has shown us that using a tanning bed even once increases the risk of a melanoma diagnosis by 20%, with each additional session adding 2% to that risk. 


And yet, over 1 million people use tanning beds every day, making the $5 billion indoor tanning industry very happy. For some reason, our cries of concern over tanning bed use are falling on deaf ears. Jaime has even been yelling from her grave that a tan isn't worth dying for!!! Yet the tanning salons continue to successfully lure adults and kids alike into their cancerous webs. What more can we do? What will make people stop and listen ... and think? How many more have to die before the light bulb goes on and people recognize that tanning bed use is extremely risky behavior??? There MUST be an answer somewhere out there ...


Read the full report here (http://archderm.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=1818976)

 
Melanoma Mama (Jaime's mom, Donna)

Twitter: @melanoma_mama
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/donna.h.regen
http://www.facebook.com/jaime.regen.rea (Remember Jaime)

http://www.facebook.com/BanTheBeds (Pull the Plug on Tanning Beds)
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)
Ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/Sweetpea321 (Jjem Creations)