A Student With Questions

Hello! I am a high school student and I am doing my science fair on causes of cancer, and I would like to ask some cancer patients some questions on what they believe caused their cancer. It will remain strictly anonymous on my project, and I'm doing this to learn more about cancer, because I honestly don't know that much. I also ask that nobody delete this board because I've gone to several sites and haven't been able to get my message across. You can answer by 1.[answer] 2.[answer] I would really appreciate it if these would get answered. I will post them in my next post.

I'm really sorry for everything that you have to go through, by the way, and I hope that you recover.

Hi,

Good luck with your project. My cancer is limited to the skin and was caused by the sun. I had a serious sunburn as a child, another in high school, and then a third in college. I'm very fair. The doctor tells me it was the first sunburn that set the pattern. I go for checkups every 3 months and have had 6 surgeries on my face; some very small but two very invasive.

I hope this helps.

Hi! My name is Chris. I just found out 2 weeks ago that I have SCC. Usually this type of cancer is caused by the sun, but WHERE mine is, that is impossible! It is on the inside of my L.leg--just inside my panty line. It looked like a "funky" mole--kinda shaped like a boomerang! It was extremely dark in color. It was not open, or even raised up. I noticed it one day when I thot I had a pimple (sorry if this sounds gross) along my panty line. When I looked (down there) with a mirror, I noticed this goofy looking "mole". I had my daughter look at it and she, too, thot it looked "wierd". I had my dr look at it, he did a biopsy, it came back SCC. I've already had the MOH'S surgery. It was not bad at all. I do not know WHERE my SCC came from. I've had several mole's removed from my back thru the years, but they were all O.K. The sun IS the usual cause. Mine was just a "funny looking-wierd shaped" mole. Very, very dark in color and ODDLY shaped. I KNOW mine wasn't from sun exposure. It's just "one of those things". So far, so good! I will, however, have to see my dermatologist every 6 mos. the rest of my life. I hope this wasn't too late for your report. Hope you get an "A"! Chris.

I was diagnosed with melignant melanoma 10 years ago on my right arm. They origionally told me it was basal cell, no big deal, but the biopsy said otherwise. They told me the small surgery I had did not get it all, and they wanted to take a peice off my arm the size of a silver dollar down to the muscle and do lymph node testing. I refused everything., and was guaranteed that at the very LEAST it would regrow on my arm, but the worst was it would spread internally. I chose to use my lifelong passion, and treat it alternatively. Nothing ever came back on my arm, and I feel great 10 years later. I believe I got it from indoor tanning for 2 years. I still love the sun and being outdoors, but I no longer use commercial tanning lotions. I use powdered Ester C {i powder it} in an organic lotion. Hope this info is useful.

How are you since?