Carpe Diem

I write this on the last day of Melanoma Awareness Month. I am PROUD to say I feel that more people are becoming aware of Melanoma Cancer....and it is being know as more than "just skin cancer."
I realize my activism is a bit much for people, but I remember those dark days of battling cancer with every ounce of my being.....lying in a bed, looking at the skyline of Los Angeles.....  hoping I made it through the BRUTAL bio-chemotherapy treatments.   I MADE IT!


UNFORTUNATELY, so many people do not make it. SO many people have to say good bye to their families...Jillian, Tina, and so many others I cannot remember all the names. SO MANY that at a melanoma rally/fundraiser there are about only 5 purple survivor shirts in the crowd of 200. TOO MANY people diagnosed with this completely preventable disease. PREVENTION  is SO MUCH easier than the FIGHT.

That is why I want to talk a bit about Carpe Diem.  My motto is really about CARPE DIEM. I need to sieze every moment and LIVE. I need to live like I could be diagnosed again and leave behind my family, my beautiful daughter and my sweet hubby. My twin sister, my mother, my younger sister.....are all people who suffered so much watching me battle.

So, IN HONOR of those who did not make it, I will CARPE DIEM. My hubby surprised me by saying "Let's go to Montana." I cried my eyes out, thinking of all the wonderful car trips we have had, SO HAPPY we will have more!!

As summer approaches, I hope YOU ALL CARPE DIEM!!  I wish Chelsea Price a WONDERFUL WEDDING!  I WISH Melissa Collins a GREAT time watching her daughter graduate high school!! I wish ROSE Seaman a wonderful summer at Tina's Place, celebrating melanoma cancer survivors in honor of her BEAUTIFUL daughter who left us TOO EARLY.  I know my melahomies in Australia, Jennifer and Kye will have a FANTASTIC Winter....(you have opposite seasons, right?) AND HUGS for every NEW MELAHOMIE I meet via the internet, Denny in Georgia, you make me smile every day, Susan in the Bay Area....YOU ARE A TRUE WARRIOR.

CARPE DIEM with the ones you love this summer!!

Every Month is Melanoma Awareness Month for Me!

As May comes to its last week, I feel sad that Melanoma Awareness month is ending.

For me, every month is for Melanoma Awareness!

I attended my first AIM fundraising walk in Alameda, CA. It was a great event. I met Samantha and Valerie...founding family of AIM. They had lost their sister / daughter 10 years ago to melanoma.  It was very sobering that out of the (around) 150 people, there were about only  5-6 survivors. It reminded how horrible the odds are for people who are diagnosed with melanoma.  The survival rate for my diagnosis, past 5 years is 10%. frightening. I did meet another stage IV survivor.

It is my 2 year anniversary being NED.

Stage I patients can go to stage IV in a heartbeat. I have read countless stories of people having a primary spot removed, being told it is gone, to receive a stage IV diagnosis later.  I think that is why everyone and anyone who has had melanoma stays strong together. We support each other, no diagnosis is too small to push aside and not be important.


Melanoma is melanoma.

With Memorial day here, the National Council on Skin Cancer Prevention has announced that tomorrow is "Don't Fry Day!"  Check out http://skincancerprevention.org/programs/dont-fry-day for more info.

Please do not try to get a base tan for the summer. Please love the skin your are in...even if you are as pale as a ghost.  Hail the Pale!

Remember, melanoma is more than skin cancer....the treatments are horrible and do not always work. For me, it did, and I will continue to help raise awareness for this disease. It is way more than just "skin cancer."

Here is what treatment is for "just skin cancer."

Well, EXCUSE ME!

I have realized that my new attitude towards life, post cancer, is one of "Don't Mess with ME!" I do not have the patience to put up with nonsense. Life is really too short! I have always been one to speak my mind and now it is even so much more a part of who I am.

The last visit I had with my doctor, he ordered tests and wanted me to see him in June. I thought, no way, that is too long for someone with my diagnosis. I went April 1st and got my tests done and called his office asking for the results. I have to take care of ME.

I hope you do not wait for an experience with death to live an honest life. Live life like you mean it! 

So, if I say something that offends you, EXCUSE ME, I fought HARD to stay alive and I do not have time for your ****!!

It is important to move through life and have no regrets and do what you want! 

What is important to you?