KALAMAZOO, Mich. — For many in West Michigan, summer means time to get outside and enjoy warm air and sunshine, two things in short supply during our long winters. But spending time in the sun can be dangerous, even deadly.
The day before Thanksgiving last year, I was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer. It was an “I can’t believe this is happening to me’ moment.”
Dr. Laurence McCahill, a surgical oncologist at the West Michigan Cancer Center, told me that my melanoma was aggressive, and there was a relatively high risk that it would soon spread.
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“The original biopsy of your melanoma on your back or flank side showed pretty deep melanoma, meaning that it had penetrated through the epidermis and deeper into the dermis,” Dr. McCahill told me. Tests showed the cancer had gotten into one of my lymph nodes, but a successful surgery removed all of the cancer from my body. At least, as far as tests can show…