Melanoma Awareness Month
This month we have a very special guest on our blog, Holly Singer! The owner and founder of Milk Jar.
She started making candles in her kitchen in 2014 as a way to get in touch with her creative side, and experiment with natural candle wax after learning most common candles on the market are filled with toxic paraffin wax bases. After a year of making candles as a craft for herself and her friends, paired with feeling that her career path was not meeting her desire to help people, Holly came up with the idea of Milk Jar; a company that blended her love of creativity and passion for lifting up and giving back to the disability community. Fast forward to now, Milk Jar has become a household name and is highly regarded in the Calgary community.
Both an inspiration inside and outside of her work, she is also an advocate for Melanoma Awareness. We had the absolute honour and pleasure of interviewing her for our May blog … this is what she had to say, enjoy!
Tell us a bit about yourself, who are you? What are your passions, hobbies, etc?
My name is Holly Singer and I am a 33 year old entrepreneur in Calgary. I love doing anything creative or crafty, and five years ago I turned my crafty hobbies of candle making into a business called Milk Jar!
What are 3 things that are most important to you?
Spending time with friends, spending time with my tiny dog Bowie and laughing with my partner Peter.
If you don’t mind sharing, can you tell us a little bit about how you found out you had Melanoma?
I noticed a very tiny mole on my leg one summer that I had never noticed before. It had an irregular shape, was different shades of brown and appeared out of nowhere which I knew were concerning signs for cancerous moles.
At the time of your diagnosis, did you know what Melanoma was?
I did, my mother is a physician so growing up I knew what the signs were for skin cancer and I also knew that Melanoma was the deadliest form of skin cancer.
Walk us through your feelings from when you were diagnosed and how you came (or if) you came to terms with this … as we can only imagine extremely scary diagnosis?
I first went to my family doctor to look at the mole that I thought looked odd and she recommended me to a Dermatologist. The Dermatologist removed the mole that looked suspicious and sent it for a biopsy to determine what it was. I have had family members have moles removed that turned out to be benign and that is what I initially thought I had. When the dermatologist brought me back in to tell me that it was Stage 1 melanoma and I would need a greater area removed, I was a bit in shock. I knew I had caught it early for a good prognosis, but it is still something that you think will never happen to you.
What did the doctor inform you regarding your Melanoma diagnosis?
That it was a Stage 1 melanoma and that I would be booked in to have a larger area removed. Because of its early diagnosis, any sort of cancer treatment was not necessary, thank goodness!
What was your biggest fear when you were given this diagnosis?
That this is something I would have to watch out for for the rest of my life, and I worried about having more melanoma and not noticing and seeing it. The mole that I did notice was so so small, if it appeared on the back of my leg instead of the side where I could see it, I may not have noticed it.
What was your treatment plan?
To have a larger area, about two inches in diameter removed.
How was your recovery?
It was not too bad, the stitches were a bit tight so the first day of walking was sore, but overall my recovery was quite easy.
How was your mental health during this treatment and following?
I think I had a good perspective on it, there was about a week I felt a lot of emotions, anxious, scared, overwhelmed, upset at some of my choices that led it to this (like tanning). But I was so grateful that I caught it early and decided to see it as the little wake up call to start taking care of myself and my skin better, which really helped mentally.
If you were to give anyone who’s family, friend or loved one advice on how to support someone who is recently diagnosed with Melanoma … What would you tell them?
Give them a hug and an ear to listen about the feelings they have surrounding their diagnosis. I really didn’t need anyone to give me advice or try to help in some way because a cancer diagnosis just is what it is, it happens and its life. But it was really nice to have people be there to listen to my fears and feelings and allow me to share.
How has melanoma affected your life? Both in the short term and how do you see it potentially affecting you in the long term?
My melanoma diagnosis really gave me the push to start taking my health more seriously as it showed me that I am not invincible even if I am young. Decisions you make when you are younger catch up with you in your later years, but it is never too late to start taking care of your health and skin.
Knowing what you know now, is there any advice you would have for the general public?
Wear sunscreen! That tan that you desperately want for Summer will fade but the implications it can have on your skin will be everlasting. Also, spray tans and fake tanners look a lot better than they used to be and they are much safer!
What has been your biggest takeaway from your entire experience?
We are so fortunate to have free healthcare in Canada where you can have a doctor look at anything you are concerned about and receive free treatment. Early detection is so important for cancer treatment and if we have these resources we should use them.
What would you say to others recently diagnosed with Melanoma?
Feel whatever you need to feel, it’s okay to be scared, upset and angry. You are going to fight this and come out stronger from it.
Thank you Holly for sharing your experience!
We have taken it upon ourselves to provide you with some facts,
Having 5 or more sunburns doubles your risk for melanoma.
When detected early, the 5-year survival rate for melanoma is 99 percent.
There are more new cases of skin cancer each year than the number of breast, prostate, lung and colon cancers COMBINED
“A seven-point checklist for moles is useful in identifying lesions that need to be excised. The three major signs are change in shape, change in size and change in colour; the four minor signs are over 7 mm in diameter, inflammation, crusting or bleeding and minor irritation or itch. Lesions with any major signs or three minor signs are suspicious of melanoma. Unfortunately malignant melanoma can present atypically.
About 2% of all melanomas are amelanotic. Amelanotic melanoma is the subtype most often reported as simulating other cutaneous lesions, but even pigmented melanomas are commonly misdiagnosed—especially as melanocytic naevus, basal cell carcinoma, seborrhoeic keratosis or lentigo.
Any changing or atypical mole or non-healing skin lesion should be referred urgently to a dermatologist or to a surgeon with a special interest in pigmented lesions. Early detection of malignant melanoma is essential since survival prospects are strongly related to tumour (Breslow) thickness at the time of diagnosis. The Breslow thickness, measured on histological examination, is the distance between the overlying epidermal granular layer and the deepest invasive area of the primary lesion.”
Source - Save Your Skin + JRSM