Post by MerryMom on Jul 22, 2016 13:54:12 GMT
Did anyone else see on facebook about Becky Higgins being diagnosed with malignant melanoma? Sending prayers and positive thoughts to Becky.
Becky Higgins LLC
· July 15 ·
"You have Malignant Melanoma." These are the words I heard earlier this week. Melanoma? Hmmm. Skin cancer? Ew. Cancer? Oh man. Okay. // We all have stories and I have always encouraged you to record your stories. Not all of our stories are meant to be shared, but I'll be sharing this one. I have had many moles removed in my life because I'm always on the lookout for anything "off" with my body. I pay attention. I've had my skin checked several times. Recently there was a mole above my right knee that was suspicious to me. It was bigger than it used to be. Its edges were irregular. And the coloring seemed a little off. These, to me, were warning signs. Not worth brushing off. I went to the dermatologist. The PA that checked over my skin looked at the mole and kept going. "Wait a second. Go back. That one's actually suspicious to me," I said. He said it was likely nothing, but you never know, and if it made me feel better then he'd do a shave biopsy. Uh -- YES PLEASE. Two weeks later, the pathology report confirmed my fear. I feel just fine and I'm very optimistic about the situation. The reason I'm going to share more about this is because I believe that when we share, it helps with AWARENESS. More about this in the morning.
Becky Higgins LLC
July 16 at 10:19am ·
First of all, thank you so much for your kindness as I've opened up about this new story in my life. I am deeply touched as I read through all of your comments from yesterday. The bad news, of course, is that I have skin cancer just above my right knee. Ugh. No one ever wants to hear that they have ANY kind of cancer. And yet some of you reading this have had — or currently have — cancer. Or someone you love has / had it. Many of you have shared your stories. Cancer affects most of us. In just my immediate family alone, my dad had it, my brother had two different kinds of cancers, and another brother died a few years ago from cancer. And actually, this is the second time that cancer has come up for me (the first time was in my appendix - found after it was removed like 17 years ago - but it was completely contained and not a big concern). Anyway, cancer is one of the harsh realities in this mortal existence for sure. // There is good news in my diagnosis, as far as we can tell. I mentioned something yesterday: EARLY DETECTION. This is key, friends. Please have your skin checked. // What I have is called Malignant Melanoma "in situ" which is actually before Stage I because the cancer hasn’t spread beyond the surface of my skin above my knee... as far as we know right now. I am scheduled to have surgery soon so that we can go wider and deeper and catch any remaining cancer cells that could possibly be hanging out. I am learning that "in situ" is definitely *less* worrisome, but Melanoma is no joke and of all the types of skin cancers, this isn't the one we wanted to hear. I really want to say this is no big deal, and of course we're praying that it's not, but these things are not to be taken lightly. I'll take a big scar ANY day over cancer.
Becky Higgins LLC
· July 15 ·
"You have Malignant Melanoma." These are the words I heard earlier this week. Melanoma? Hmmm. Skin cancer? Ew. Cancer? Oh man. Okay. // We all have stories and I have always encouraged you to record your stories. Not all of our stories are meant to be shared, but I'll be sharing this one. I have had many moles removed in my life because I'm always on the lookout for anything "off" with my body. I pay attention. I've had my skin checked several times. Recently there was a mole above my right knee that was suspicious to me. It was bigger than it used to be. Its edges were irregular. And the coloring seemed a little off. These, to me, were warning signs. Not worth brushing off. I went to the dermatologist. The PA that checked over my skin looked at the mole and kept going. "Wait a second. Go back. That one's actually suspicious to me," I said. He said it was likely nothing, but you never know, and if it made me feel better then he'd do a shave biopsy. Uh -- YES PLEASE. Two weeks later, the pathology report confirmed my fear. I feel just fine and I'm very optimistic about the situation. The reason I'm going to share more about this is because I believe that when we share, it helps with AWARENESS. More about this in the morning.
Becky Higgins LLC
July 16 at 10:19am ·
First of all, thank you so much for your kindness as I've opened up about this new story in my life. I am deeply touched as I read through all of your comments from yesterday. The bad news, of course, is that I have skin cancer just above my right knee. Ugh. No one ever wants to hear that they have ANY kind of cancer. And yet some of you reading this have had — or currently have — cancer. Or someone you love has / had it. Many of you have shared your stories. Cancer affects most of us. In just my immediate family alone, my dad had it, my brother had two different kinds of cancers, and another brother died a few years ago from cancer. And actually, this is the second time that cancer has come up for me (the first time was in my appendix - found after it was removed like 17 years ago - but it was completely contained and not a big concern). Anyway, cancer is one of the harsh realities in this mortal existence for sure. // There is good news in my diagnosis, as far as we can tell. I mentioned something yesterday: EARLY DETECTION. This is key, friends. Please have your skin checked. // What I have is called Malignant Melanoma "in situ" which is actually before Stage I because the cancer hasn’t spread beyond the surface of my skin above my knee... as far as we know right now. I am scheduled to have surgery soon so that we can go wider and deeper and catch any remaining cancer cells that could possibly be hanging out. I am learning that "in situ" is definitely *less* worrisome, but Melanoma is no joke and of all the types of skin cancers, this isn't the one we wanted to hear. I really want to say this is no big deal, and of course we're praying that it's not, but these things are not to be taken lightly. I'll take a big scar ANY day over cancer.