Meet Melia!  She is a ball of energy and loves life!  Melia was so excited and ready to take pictures in spite of it being 36 degrees outside.  We have had 3 different days of taking pictures and each session I feel like I’ve had a different season.  The first session had alot of greenery, the second one had fall glow and this session looked like winter!!  At least they went all in order!!

Melia was diagnosed with Melanoma a little over a year ago.  She had been tanning in tanning beds most of her adult life and even some as a teenager.  People kept telling her that she shouldn’t get in them and that they can cause cancer, but she wanted that tan in Texas, can you blame her?  Melia was one of those girls that had tanning down to a T and that glow.  She told me that she was the girl who would already be out in the pool before people arrived and also that she tanned sideways in tanning beds to be even all over.

At the age of 43 Melia was living her life when one day she scratched a spot on her side and it hurt.  She was concerned and sent a photo to her friend who was a dermatologist and told her to go to their office the next day!  That day they did testing and she found out that she had Melanoma.  There were some other spots on her body that had a different kind of cancer called Basil.  Apparently there are 3 different types of skin cancer and they have different treatments.  The one that Melia had was the kind where it was bad and they needed to go in surgically and take lymph nodes out.  The basil cancer was one that could be cut out, but nonetheless cancer is cancer and its still scary.

Melia is now one year cancer free and in the pictures below you will see that she got her a one year cancer free tattoo!! She wants to spread the awareness of not getting into tanning beds and not laying out in the sun.  Melanoma is a preventable cancer in some situations and being pale or even using some organic tanning lotion could help boost your confidence if you do struggle with the shade of your skin.  At the end of the day, Melia says that being tan while your young may make you cute now, but can cause you to have many scars in the future with surgeries, spots frozen or cut off.

Now Melia is living her life to the fullest with her kids and watching them play their sports.  Her kids bring joy to her life and make her the happiest mom!  I love her confidence that through the bad in life it dosent stop her, but motivate her to live life even more!!

Thank you Melia for sharing your story and sharing the awareness of Skin Cancer.  I hope that your story can help someone be more aware and see their beauty of their skin.  You are an inspiration to us and you give us hope that we can overcome cancer and still be confident and stronger than ever!!