Research. Educate. Advocate.

To support medical RESEARCH for finding effective treatments and eventually a cure for melanoma. To EDUCATE patients and physicians about the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of melanoma. To act as an ADVOCATE for the melanoma community to raise the awareness of this disease and the need for a cure. Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) is the largest independent, national organization devoted to melanoma in the United States. Committed to the support of medical research in finding effective treatments and eventually a cure for melanoma.

Take Action

About

What I do

Well, these days, I write, I tweet, I instruct and sometimes even bray about UV exposure and sun protection!  I have spent the last ten years educating myself about melanoma and have worked to find simple, practical ways to live safely in the sun.  Now, with the help of social media, I’ve been able to expand my message and reach out to others.  For me, sun protection is a way of life, it’s my day-to-day reality.  I can’t afford to be blasé and I’m too old to play the dumb blonde.  Every morning I wake-up and have to confront my enemy.  I refuse to live a life indoors (not that that would keep me from getting cancer again) and so I continue to look for ways to live sun safe.  I have two blue-eyed, blonde haired girls who are counting on me to keep them safe as well.  My girls have seen my scars, sat with me as I recovered from surgery, and so they get it.  They have become ambassadors for the cause and they wear their rash guards proudly.  They wear hats and walk on the shady side of the street cause they have seen first-hand what melanoma can do.  If I’m lucky, this will be a life-long mission.  -And I plan on being lucky.

What I want

I want people to understand the danger of UV exposure - indoors and out. I want tanning beds banned to minors. I want everyone to become proactive when it comes to their skin and make yearly skin exams with a dermatologist...yearly. Melanoma is nearly 99% treatable if caught early, but is one of the deadliest cancers once it has spread. Read more

Who I am

I am not a doctor. I am a wife, a mother of young girls, a three time melanoma survivor, and most recently a LA Times bestselling author of Pale Girl SPEAKS. My first diagnosis, at 25, was the result of a yearly skin exam. A dermatologist, who I’d been seeing since high school, pointed out the mole and thought it should be biopsied. At the time, I had no idea what melanoma was. Read more