Heather Quintal (Webb)

Stage:Stage III

I was 22, I had just graduated college and was about to start my “dream” job at the world’s top accounting firm. I had my 5-year and 10-year plans strategized and I had just started teaching fitness classes at the health club my family owns. My friends would describe me as an active, healthy person. I had only been to a tanning booth twice in my life for my junior prom. But I enjoyed my summer tan, always assuming my May/June “base-burn” was just what happens, and never anything to worry about. I wore sunscreen on occasion, but I spent a lot of time outside swimming, running, biking, and skiing.

The summer going into my senior year of college, my dad pointed out a ‘strange’ mole on my back. My primary care said, “no big deal, just get it removed.” It took 6 months to get a dermatologist appointment. It was my first ever dermatology appointment when they removed it. I thought nothing of it – it’s just skin.

Three days later I got a call from my doctor’s office when I was out for a walk with my mom wanting me to come back that afternoon and “bring mom.” When we got in the room, they handed my mom a box of tissues and a glass of water and informed us that I had Melanoma. “You should have come in sooner.”
The next few days, whirlwinds of doctors called wanting to see me after hearing my case. I felt like a specimen that they just wanted to look inside.

As Melanoma became my new reality I realized 3 common misconceptions:

1. Its not just skin. And you can never just pluck it off and remove it.
2. You can get Melanoma at any age, and it doesn’t always show up as a mole.
3. You DON’T have to be a sun goddess or frequent tanning booths to get Melanoma.

One nurse explained Melanoma to be like a tick who’s legs latch on and can disperse into your blood stream and lymph system, and they move can fast. They tested 2 main lymph nodes under my arm as a precautionary, but assured me it was unlikely the cancer had spread. Ten days later, my surgeon called my mom, it had spread. I was told I had a 50% chance of surviving the next 5-years. Those are words I never could have imagined hearing wearing my graduation cap a few weeks before.

When I had all my lymph nodes taken out, I had a tube and a pump coming out of my arm to train my body to live without these lymph drains and avoid permanent swelling. My pump, my sister and I named Fred – and Fred would save my arm from swelling! I continued walking 5 to 7 miles everyday, envisioning my body fluids flowing faster and to learn to live without these drains.

I chose to do a year of treatment therapy. I went in with the mind set that whatever was going to happen would happen and skipped the treatment’s information session – keeping my mind over matter.

 Looking back, that 18 months has undoubtedly changed my life. My mom was diagnosed 4 months after me, in October of 2012, with Multiple Myeloma. When I started working at my “dream” job midway through treatment I hadn’t realized how much this journey had already taught me (nor how tolling the medicine was). Meanwhile, as part of my mother’s treatment she was called to be in complete isolation for 100 days. Being the patient is no fun, but being the bystander is an unsettling helplessness that I watched my dad, sister and brother have to overcome. So I left my job, making my first priority my family just as they had made me theirs.

I struggled most with the unknowns. I was a planner by nature, with 5 and 10 year plans. It was unsettling to try and be a “normal” 22 year-old and plan 5 years ahead with the echo of my doctor’s voice saying that 5 years was just a mere possibility. My greatest and hardest lesson was learning to take everything day by day. Between my own surgeries and treatment, and being there for my mom and my family, I realized I could have goals and dreams, but not a plan. I found walking to be similar to my own meditation. My mom researched a lot about the mind/body connection through her journey. She taught me to close my eyes and envision all the years to come, with me and her there, healthy and happy, because we wouldn’t let there be any other way for all this to turn out.

I stay consistent with my scans and my dermatology appointments. I check my skin once every few weeks so I can notice any differences, but not get paranoid. I love my big yellow floppy hat and finding an excuse to spend money on sunglasses. Being tan is not a goal anymore and I’m lucky enough to say my friends would say that the same goes for them. We share SPF make-up lines and any information about sun and skin protection we come across. If we are in the sun we constantly remind each other to re-apply every two hours. I am lucky enough to have an amazing support system, which has been the most important part of my success. If someone had told me on my college graduation day that this would be my 5-year plan, I never would have believed I’d be grateful for how much it has changed my life.

I opened a yoga studio in hopes to encourage and be inspired by others’ life challenges and how they face them. I am a member of the speakers bureau for IMPACT Melanoma and speak to high school and colleges about sun protection – not just about the danger of tanning booths, but about my story, being safe in the sun while you’re out being active!