Véronique's Story

My name is Veronique, I am 46 years old. I have had three skin cancers.
A cancer on my forehead, almost on my scalp, in my case it was a scab the size of a dollar coin. It itched, changed color and wouldn't heal. I never thought it was cancer, I thought it was eczema.

My son had an appointment with the dermatologist and I decided to go with him. When I took off my hat, the dermatologist saw my forehead and said, "Okay, I'll do a biopsy right away." That morning, I didn't know I was meeting the head of Mohs surgery.

When I got the quick diagnosis, I was told that I would need plastic surgery reconstruction the day after surgery. Huh?
Three months of follow-up visits for plastic surgery to recover and six months of having a numb head, migraines and hoping that the hair would grow back.

When I was young, there was the tanning trend that I was into and even when I was doing outdoor activities, I didn't use sunscreen. I wanted so much to have a tan. I was so white that I even turned blue sometimes. When I was red, I was able to have a little tan the next day, and no one bought spray tan at the time because it gave us orange skin.

I had my second cancer in August 2018, a brown scab appeared quickly and did not heal in the middle of my chest. Once again, we remove, close and move on.

We have all heard someone close to us say: "Ah, skin cancer is easy to treat, it burns in two seconds, my cousin had one... ". Well, that's not quite the case in all cases, there are different stages. Like any type of cancer, it's about catching it in time before it spins its spider web inside and metastasizes.

The third cancer October 2018, a brown scab still stings, a sore that does not heal on the right shoulder. We remove, we close and we hope that it will be the last. The fear that it will come back is omnipresent and it settles in our head. I think about it often, too often...

Early detection is very important and it can save lives. If my message can help raise awareness for a few people to consult or even examine their body from time to time to avoid skin damage. We do not always realize their impact, and it is only years later, after several sunburns that the skin wakes up.

I slowly accept my whiteness. The sun is my worst enemy. Me, who nevertheless, adores this heat on the skin..

Last Friday, March 17, 2023, was my follow-up appointment and here was a very suspicious mole. A new biopsy was done that morning, since then I've been keeping my fingers crossed.

If our skin could talk, it would ask us: “Do I have anything new? changing? unusual?”

Sunscreen is “IN”
Cancer is “OUT”

Cream yourself!! And in every season. Clouds or not! Protect yourself!

Thanks for reading!
Vero 🙂