Easy to Learn, but Taught Hard

by Roderick
(Alabama, USA)

So me and my one of my greatest friends (I mean like from second grade to the present) decided that we were going to take a trip down to Panama City for the summer and just soak it up in the sun.

We saved up for months and had more than enough for gas, food and a good time. We stayed in a nice hotel (or at least next to the beach) and with that we stayed out in the sun for hours at a time.

And in all this time on the sun, not one time did we bring up the use of sunscreen. I mean we were just young and having fun, sunscreen just seemed “lame”.

Well about two weeks later my friend calls me up and proceeds to tell me he has Melanoma Skin Cancer. I pause on the phone, and ask him “how is possible you'r 20 years old?”

So as my title entails, this was an easy lesson to learn, but it was the hardest lesson that I’ve ever had taught to me.

I’m not naive enough to believe that I was directly responsible to my friend staying out in the sun, or that out brief vacation was the number one cause.

But my friend’s years of sun damage are a clear message to me of the value of sunscreen. I am now a little older and a little wiser.

There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think about the possibility of my friend dying. But I hold on to the fact that I know enough to stop that from happening to me and my friend, at least for now.

I wish Malignant Melanoma was benign(hence the name), but it's not and could be deadly if not caught on time. I will have to deal with that. But just take it from me, use sunscreen and save a life, don’t take a chance.

Melanoma Skin Cancer

Malignant Melanoma Skin Cancer

Skin Cancer Melanoma

Skin Cancer Moles