Melanoma Awareness

Hi Everyone,

This is Bennie posting for the first time since this site was created. I just wanted to post on a couple of things that have happened this month. We found out that the brain MRI came back clear which is very good. This keeps me open for many clinical trials.

The pill ( Zelboraf) I am on has shrunk the tumor on my hip to the point were I can't feel it anymore. Which is awesome. We go for another CT scan next week on May 24th and find out the results on the 28th. I hope that it is doing the same to the other areas within my body as it has on my hip. So far the Zelboraf side effects haven't been to bad. I feel like an old man with arthritis that travels around my body. I also can't go out in the sun for more than 15mins or I get really sunburnt. My hair keeps shedding like a dog. Overall these side effects are nothing compared to the high dose IL2 treatment I did before.

On May 6th it was Melanoma Monday which is the first Monday of May. I want to thank all the people that supported me and all my fellow Melanoma fighters. It was great to see everyone wearing black in support of Melanoma awareness. In light of Melanoma awareness this month another blog Addison's Army has decided to post a story everyday for the month of May in hopes to raise awareness of Melanoma. Addison's Army is about a mother that found out that she had stage IV Melanoma shortly after giving birth to her daughter. The doctors told her it was very rare for cancer to transfer from mother to fetus and not to worry. Well in this case the cancer did transfer to the fetus and now the mother and child both have Melanoma. The mother passed away in February of 2012 and Addison keeps on fighting. My story has been highlighted on their site along with many others. If you want to shed some light on the dangers of protecting your skin from the sun and tanning beds then I urge you to read some of the stories.

Here is a link to Addison's blog http://addisonsarmy.org/

Here is a link to my Story on Addison's blog http://addisonsarmy.org/bennies-story/