High School is supposed to be the best four years of your life.  What I was looking forward to most were the dances.  Ironically, my cancer journey begins on the night of my first Homecoming dance, freshman year.  My hairdresser was brushing my hair when she accidentally bumped a lump on my scalp.  The lump began to bleed.  I don’t think I have to tell you that we were both pretty freaked out.  My mom set up an appointment with a dermatologist on April 5, 2004.

My dermatologist checked the lump, removed it and then sent it for a biopsy.  I didn’t hear from her until a few weeks later.  She called on the same day I got home from bunion surgery.  I remember it being a pretty weird day.  When I answered the phone, she thought I was my mom and she tried to explain to me in funky monkey medical terms what was going on with me.  That didn’t work for either of us, so she decided to set up an appointment with my parents.  My parents told me that the mole on my head was a stage 2 malignant melanoma.  I was high risk patient but it was curable.  I lost it.  I cried for days.  I didn’t eat or sleep for nearly two weeks.

After many more tests and Cat scans, they decided to do surgery.  In the meantime, I returned to school.  Everyone was coming up to me asking how I was doing.  It was a little overwhelming. What I hated the most was when people told me they knew what I was going through.  How? I know they were just trying to be nice, but it really didn’t make me feel any better. My history teacher Mr. Kane, was one of the few people I could talk to you.  He didn’t try to tell me what I should do.  He just listened.  One teacher told me I should go to the school shrink.  I wasn’t crazy, just a little confused about what was going on.

Last year, I was surfing the internet and looking for people who really did know what I was going through.  One of the first groups I came across was Group Loop.  The discussion boards helped a lot.  It made me laugh. A lot.  Especially when all I wanted to do was scream at the top of my lungs. A lot. I pen pal with a few people I’ve met from the site.  And I check the discussion board daily.  Having people that really do know what I’m going through helps me deal with the ups and downs of cancer.

I’m a senior now and looking forward to going to college this Fall where I hope to study wildlife. This April I will have been cancer-free for almost three years!  I go back for long-term follow-ups with my dermatologist and oncologist for two more years to make sure I stay that way. I really can’t wait until I’m cancer-free for good.  But until then, what doesn’t kill me will make me stronger!