It's funny the things that seem 'lucky' when it comes to cancer. For me it's that my dad had a melanoma when he was 30. It was a fairly big deal since we were thousands of miles away from the nearest hospital and this was the mid 80's and there really wasn't that much information and it was a very, very stressful time. But he ended up being fine and has, amazingly, never had another melanoma, although statistically, he probably ought to have had dozens. The 'lucky' part comes in because it was a sufficiently traumatic event for my 7 year old self that I've been getting regular skin screenings since I was about 23, and have submitted to having 4 moles (all, so far benign - but let's not talk about unattractive scars in visible places, kay?) removed preventatively.

I anticipate one day one of the moles is going to be malignant, cause red hair + freckles + family history + lots of burns as a kid = high risk. But the fact that I'm doing everything I can to catch it early makes the whole thing so much less stressful.

Thanks for the psa - hope it catches the attention of people who aren't already getting regular screenings.