Dear Sixteen Year Old Me – Be Careful Out There

I saw the video tweeted today earlier. I had a few minutes and clicked on it – I assumed it was might be a cute cautionary tale on growing up, possibly something to do with risky lifestyle choices like sex, drinking or drugs. It wasn’t 25 seconds in when the people in the video began revealing their scars from cancer operations that it became deadly serious.

The video was produced by the David Cornfield Melanoma Fund, which was established in 2007 and is devoted to promoting awareness of melanoma in order to save lives. David Cornfield was just 32 years-old when he was diagnosed with melanoma. After being in remission for two years the cancer returned to his lungs then spread to his brain and spinal column, paralyzing him for the last month of his life. After his death his wife Sari founded the fund.

Every year 5300 Canadians are diagnosed with melanoma and 1000 die. If your receive a severe sunburn before the age of 16 the risk of contracting melanoma can double. Good news, nearly 90% melanoma cases can be cured if caught in time.

This video is once of the most effective videos for cancer awareness that I have ever seen. Having spent nearly everyday of the summer running around without a shirt with no thoughts of wearing sunscreen, it made me think and start looking for weird moles. So far so good.

It’s cool that the music used is ‘Generator, First Floor‘ by the Freelance Whales, who I just saw play live last weekend.

So, take care of yourself friends. Have those suspicious moles checked, and get in the habit of checking your skin once a month. There are some great worksheets and information available on the DCMF web site.