Still, myths remain:All skin cancer manifests as a misshapen mole.
Mariena Browning, 25, has one such form of melanoma.
“In 2018, I noticed a lump in my groin.
Celeste Sloman
“Within a couple of weeks, there were multiple lumps and they were all very hard and painful.
After about nine months, her doctors detected tumors in her brain.
“We had to do brain radiation and we had to add another immunotherapy.
Shantae Armstrong Photography
That killed it,” she says.
Browning is stable but expects to be in treatment through the end of the year at least.
Alison Bowles
Alison Bowles always knew she might be more susceptible to skin cancer.
She had numerous small moles, and her grandmother developed melanoma in her 70s.
Still, it was a surprise when Bowles herself was diagnosed at the age of 22.
I noticed that a mole on my back had changed colors,” says Bowles.
“I was like, ‘OK, that’s weird.’
I flew back to St. Louis the next day and saw my dermatologist.
They did the biopsy, and it came back cancerous.”
Doctors were able to remove the melanoma entirely, leaving Bowles with 12 stitches and a long scar.
“I caught it just in time,” she says.
“If it hadn’tcaught my eye, it could have been much worse.”
Courtesy Abby Perez
As a model who regularly does bikini shoots on the beach, Bowles can’t avoid the sun entirely.
Soon after, she was diagnosed withstage III melanomathat had spread to her groin.
She had her toe removed, as well as the entire lymph node system in her groin.
Its forever there once youve been welcomed into the cancer club.
“My health is my full-time job,” says Fornasier.
“I’m a writer, so sharing through words is very natural to me,” she continues.
One of the things Im adamant about is to make speaking about cancer less scary.
We need to include people with all walks of experience in every facet of life.
I’m still learning every day about using my voice.”
“So I wasn’t too keen on it.
Only a few months after the removal of her eye, she suddenly had a seizure.
She was now diagnosed with stage IV melanoma the cancer had spread to her brain.
Van Zeil began treatment but “nearly died from the side effects.”
Fortunately, the treatment was effective.
“I didn’t want anyone else to feel alone, going through what they were going through.”
“I finally decided to get it checked out, and it turned out to be melanoma.”
She continues to receive full-body checkups every three months.
Perez admits that she enjoyed spending timeout in the sunwithout sunscreen prior to her diagnosis.
“I was always looking to confirm that my legs were tanned, especially in the summer.”
Perez has a career in higher education in Washington state but enjoys influencing on Instagram on the side.
“I definitely have been there.
Read more from The Survivor’s Guide to Melanoma:
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