Five years after a trip to the dermatologist Kelly began having chronic bronchitis. Her family Dr. put her on anti-biotics and the bronchitis cleared up, only to return a couple weeks later. After being on and off anti-biotics for 6 months her Dr. ordered a chest x-ray. We never dreamed in a million years what they would find on that x-ray. They said, "she has a growth in her lung"...a growth? What did that mean? We were to find out all to quickly. Many more tests were ordered and before we knew what was happening she was having surgery to remove the middle lobe or her left lung! We were stunned. What came after that was even more horrific. Melanoma. What? What IS melanoma? We had never heard of it. We were given the Cliff notes of melanoma and very quickly understood what this meant. We were not, however, prepared for her death four months later! In the twelve years since that happened I think we've come a long way in educating the public about the dangers of sun exposure and tanning beds...but not far enough. After spending years trying to figure out what to do with this terrible tragedy I have made it my mission in life to do what I can to help educate people about this terrible, but curable disease. Yes, melanoma can be survived if found and treated quickly. We all have to be an active participant in our health care, had we done more research when she first visited the dermatologist and asked more questions she may still be alive and enjoying her children. We didn't know what questions to ask! I've created a "mini-website"
You can find the web site here: http://www.squidoo.com/
You can find additional melanoma and other general cancer information on my website dedicated to Kelly here: http://www.olivejuicedesigns.net the link to cancer information is at the bottom of the page.
