<p>Lukester, I am very sorry for your loss…</p>
<p>A similar story as Lukester’s has impacted our family also. We lost my husband’s beautiful sister to malignant melanoma 3 years ago. She had gotten it when she was 18, it was very thin and small, and it was removed unceremoniously. She was given a good prognosis. At 27, she got pregnant and 3 months later found a lump under her arm, which was a metastasis of the original miniscule primary melanoma. She passed away when my nephew was 18 months old. She also had a 6 year old son. </p>
<p>She was not fair skinned - no one in my husband’s family is. She tanned outdoors, but not excessively, and did occasionally use a tanning bed. Another one of my husband’s sisters also has melanoma, but so far, no metastasis. (heavy tanner, both outdoors and indoors) So, there is likely a genetic component, but families also share sun habits, so it is hard to know.</p>
<p>We are all permanently changed by this. My kids have great sun habits, and are constantly stunned by ‘tanorexic’ friends. Strangely, my husband’s sisters let their kids fake bake. I don’t understand that and won’t allow it while I have control of the rules and funds for leisure activity.</p>
<p>I’ve never been a fan of tons of regulations, but I honestly think tanning beds are worse than cigarettes and need to be off limits to kids. Cigarettes will give you chronic health problems, and eventually may give you lung cancer. Melanoma, once metastacized, is lethal. Kids have no common sense where tanning is concerned. They are misinformed by peers and adults. It’s one thing if an adult decides concsiously to use a tanning bed, it’s another entirely if a child uses one.</p>