By Abby Drake
Staff Writer
Video By: Josh Oden and Josh Brunelli
Like most girls, Coppell High School senior Keely Leonard used to spend all day out in the summer sun soaking up rays and her winter afternoons in tanning beds, until her mother was diagnosed with Melanoma for the fourth time.
“My mom has had melanoma four times, which made me want to learn more information, and I can fully do that with this project,” Leonard said. “I will never go tanning again.”
Melanoma is the most serious form of skin cancer and 120,000 new cases are diagnosed in the United States every year. Coppell High School anatomy and physiology classes are working to raise awareness of this disease to help bring this number down.
Melanoma is caused by unprotected exposure to the sun and UVA rays. If it is recognized and treated early then it can be easily cured. However, if the cancer has time, then it can spread to other areas of the body leading to fatal consequences.
Once an individual has been inflicted with melanoma, the only cure is for a dermatologist is able to cut out the source so that the cancer is gone and unable to spread. Some people are not as fortunate and can’t have the full extent of the disease removed, and one American dies of melanoma every hour. Out of all forms of skin cancer, melanoma causes the most deaths.
Melanoma is most often detected in people with fair skin, have a lot of exposure to the sun, have irregular moles or have a family history of melanoma. There is a 50 percent increased risk of contracting the disease for people whose immediate family was affected by melanoma.
The best way for a person to ensure that they are healthy is to stay protected in the sun, perform self-exams, and to visit their doctor regularly. People need to monitor any new moles and ensure that they are no bigger than a pencil eraser, asymmetrical, brownish in color, and have a round border.
Since these facts are not well-known to most of the American public, the anatomy and physiology class at CHS are working hard to find ways to raise awareness of melanoma. Many students within the classes did not know the dangers of melanoma themselves and after researching and learning about the cancer and the information they have gained their lives are beginning to change.
David Winkle, a Coppell resident, was diagnosed and treated with skin cancer a few months ago. Growing up he did not know the risks that he was taking while running around unprotected in the sun. Now that he knows the consequences of being unsafe in the sun, Winkle plans to make some life changes.
Jodie Dienhammer, anatomy teacher at CHS, created the project for her students to do in order to raise awareness for melanoma.
“My mom had melanoma and I wanted to know more about it. I never realized how serious and common it was and I want my students to learn about it and be more aware of sun exposure, since what you do to your skin now will affect you when you’re older. Melanoma is a subject that we have to cover anyway, so this project just makes it more interesting’” Dienhammer said.
The project required students to join together in groups of four and brainstorm different ways to raise awareness. Some of the ideas included: bake sales, T-shirts, public service announcements, bracelets and lanyards.
The best ideas, T-shirts and public service announcements, were chosen and then those same groups were requested to create their own product of either of the two ideas. After all creations were submitted students voted and then one shirt and one PSA were chosen.
Senior Savannah Shealy, with her experience with KCBY, helped to create the winning PSA and felt that it was her duty to make an outstanding video to truly get the word out about the dangers of melanoma.
“A lot of kids tan at the school and they don’t know the risks of getting skin cancer,” Shealy said. “After learning about melanoma, I was inspired and felt that the better the video then the better the word will get out.”
The winning T-shirt was an interpretation of a popular character from the television show Jersey Shore, Mike the Situation. The phrase on the front of the shirt said, “Melanoma, it’s a bad situation”. The shirts help with raising awareness since it relates to students through pop culture.
This project helped a lot of students to discover the true threat that tanning can cause and many are trying to change their ways. People are beginning to cancel their tanning memberships and get any suspicious signs check out by their doctors.
“Stay out of tanning beds, always protect yourself, and know that looking good is not worth dying”, Leonard said.
