SHADE Foundation of America
Dedicated to eradicating melanoma through the education of children
and the community in the prevention and detection of skin cancer
and the promotion of sun safety.
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Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

News Update
Jacky Sims, 16, bears a scar from skin cancer surgery.

Ralph Freso Tribune

Ahwatukee girl warns peers on tanning booths
By Beth Lucas, Tribune

The deep 4-inch scar just below Jacky Sims' neck is a reminder of a lesson
she learned the hard way.
Kids get skin cancer, too.

It has been a year since the 16-year-old Ahwatukee Foothills girl learned
she had the disease after a discolored mole on her chest was removed during
a routine exam.

"I didn't even know what 'malignant melanoma' meant," said Sims, a junior at
Desert Vista High School.

While most cases of skin cancer are suffered by adults older than 40, the
rate of skin cancer continues to increase annually by 3 percent.

That means children and teenagers are also more apt to get it, according to
the SHADE Foundation, a local organization that raised more than $550,000
last year to provide schools and playgrounds with shading, sunblock and
workbooks on sun safety. SHADE is an acronym for various skin protection
methods, starting with sunglasses.

Sims, who told her story in the June issue of Young Miss magazine, urges
teens to protect themselves from light rays in a state where tanning is
"cool" and easy - but also a place the Arizona Cancer Center reports is
second only to Australia for skin cancer.

Tanning beds are a "huge thing at my school," Sims said. "Even if you don't
get skin cancer, you'll be all wrinkly."

Sims' case baffled those who consider skin cancer an adult's disease, or who
believe - incorrectly - that olive skin like hers is safe from cancer.

"I have Hispanic friends who told me they don't need to wear sunscreen
because they have dark skin already," Sims said.

On the foundation's Web site, www.shadefoundation.org, Sims is helping to
run a message board with a Nevada teenager. The online group discusses
research from the cancer center, such as the scientific finding that even if
children don't get skin cancer, 80 percent of all sun exposure that can lead
to cancer happens before the age of 18.

A cross-country runner, Sims is planning a fund-raising run for January with
the foundation. She and other runners will set good examples by wearing
sunscreen, sunglasses, hats and protective clothes as examples of safer fun
in the sun, she said.

Her mother, Terry Sims, recommended having children's skin checked at least
annually, a policy that may have saved her daughter's life. Guides on
self-exams are also available at the foundation's Web site.

"Unlike other cancers, this is something you can control," Jacky Sims said.
"You can control if you're doing stupid things like laying out in the sun or
laying in a tanning bed."

The American Cancer Society reports that skin cancer, of which melanoma is
considered the most deadly form, makes up more than half of all cancers.
Since 1973, the death rate has doubled.

The society expects 59,350 people nationwide to be diagnosed in 2004, with
the number of cases among white men over 40 on the rise. Cases among women
are level and children with skin cancer are still so rare that no figures
are available.

Arizona can expect an estimated 1,180 new cases of skin cancer this year.

Contact Beth Lucas by email, or phone (480) 898-7731

Check out this article about artificial tanning beds from WHO (World Health Organization)

 

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