Donate For AAD Members Search

Go to AAD Home
Welcome!
Advertisement
Advertisement

Edward’s personal story


Edward Leighton
It kind of surprised me to know there were places on my body that even after 62 years I had never actually seen. At my doctor’s recommendation I scheduled a routine screening. Doctor Kaminska asked if I had noticed anything unusual, and I had not. It was then that my wife jumped in, pointing to something on my shoulder that could only have be seen by me with a hand-held mirror. I never knew, but was hardly surprised. I vividly recall my first sunburn at age 7, and had been an unprotected sun-worshiper ever since. I have a sun roof in my car, a deck on my garage, an above ground pool, and dozens of vacations to sunny and hot destinations…all of them fabulous! And potentially fatal. It was after the biopsy I heard the words that changed everything: “You will be a patient for life. “

As a man of faith I was not shaken to my core about the potential of death; death will come eventually anyway. What bothered me was all the lifestyle changes I had to make in the interim: Apply the sunscreen, close the sun roof, stop basking in the sun, wear a hat, etc.

I am grateful for a chance at life, an observant wife, and Dr. Kaminska. Adding a little sunscreen isn’t going to kill me, but failing to might!

Advertisement