At the age of fifteen, I noticed a small spot on my chest which began to grow. My doctor said it was nothing and to just watch it. When I was sixteen and a junior in high school, the spot had changed in color, size, shape, and boarders. I visited a dermatologist who just glancing at it said "it wasn’t good". In January 2000, I underwent surgery to remove the mole and I was diagnosed with Melanoma.
The cancer had spread. I had two more surgeries in three months where my lymph nodes under my left arm where removed. Later, I learned my grandma and my grandpa had Melanoma as well. Around my 17th birthday I started a year of interferon treatments. I missed a lot of school because I always felt like I had a bad flu. On my 18th birthday I finished treatments just in time to go to my senior prom and graduation. I was so happy to be cancer free.
After this experience I thought I could do anything and I left home to go to college in New York. I was cancer free for five years. My junior year of college my cancer returned. I was having trouble breathing and was rushed to the hospital. Chest x-rays showed a large mass attached to my lungs. I was rushed home to get test done which showed it was the cancer.
I was now diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma. I immediately started high dose Interleukin 2 treatments in the hospital. The treatments work in 10% of patients and I was so scared. In January, I spent one week in the hospital, one week at home, and another week in the hospital. They were the worst weeks of my life. In July, I started another round of the treatment.
The CT scans showed no signs of cancer. In august 2005, I transferred to Regent University, in Virginia Beach, VA. I am going to graduating college on my 24th birthday which is May 5th, 2007. I recently got engaged on the beach in Hawaii. And I am looking forward to being two years cancer free soon.