KRYSTA MOCHI

Stage:Stage I

I was diagnosed with melanoma when I was 14 years old. My parents received a phone call with my diagnosis on September 30, 2008, just a few days after my first visit to the dermatologist. There was nothing prompting my visit. I hadn’t noticed any peculiar moles I thought I should get checked out, nor was I advised to visit a dermatologist by my primary care physician. The reason for my visit was that the dentist had noticed a dark freckle on my brother’s lip during his checkup, and they recommended that my mother take him to the dermatologist and get it checked out to be safe. His freckle turned out to be fine, but my mother figured she might as well take me to get checked too, just in case.
My first visit was in September 2008, just after I had started eighth grade. I had one biopsy to remove a dark mole on my upper left arm. The dermatologist thought it was nothing to worry about, but wanted to be sure. A few days later, we got a call saying the results came back: it was melanoma. At the time, I didn’t understand very well what melanoma was. I had never even heard of it until I was told I had it. I never went tanning, was always extremely cautious of the sun, and made sure to reapply sunscreen. Although I have red hair and fair skin, I never even thought about skin cancer because of how diligent I was with sunscreen. After my diagnosis, I was more concerned with the surgeries, doctor’s appointments, and especially the scars that were to come, so I never fully understood just how serious melanoma was.
My parents took me to Mass General Hospital a few weeks later, where the doctors there performed another full skin check to make sure they didn’t see any other concerning moles. They then explained what the surgery on my arm would be like, and we scheduled an appointment to remove the melanoma. Just about two weeks later, on October 17, I returned to Mass General to have my melanoma removed. This would be the first surgery I had ever had, my first time being treated in a hospital, and my first time getting stitches. Even though I had just been diagnosed with the deadliest form of skin cancer, everything was happening so fast that I couldn’t seem to wrap my head around it.
I went home after the surgery and despite having a very sore arm, everything went pretty smoothly and we were expecting a quick recovery. The doctor put in dissolvable stitches and said the scar should heal quickly. A few days after the surgery, I noticed that the wound didn’t seem to be healing properly. My parents and I went to my pediatrician, who said everything looked normal and not to worry about it. However, a few days later, something looked really wrong and my arm wasn’t healing properly at all. My parents took me back to the pediatrician, who said we should go to the ER right away. At the ER, they informed me that my arm was infected and they needed to remove the stitches to treat the infection. I had to stay overnight in the hospital for the first time in my life and remember waking up the next morning surrounded by doctors discussing my arm. I returned to Mass General a few days later for my surgeon to put new stitches in. After this, he said we needed to have visiting nurses come to my house every day to monitor the stitches and clean my arm. I missed about two weeks of eighth grade because I needed to stay home for the visiting nurses. I fell way behind in my classes and got a tutor to catch myself up.
Due to the infection and the new stitches, my scar ended up being a lot bigger than it was expected to be. I wore large bandages over it every time I went to the beach or was out in the sun for a long period of time because it was so susceptible to sun damage. I returned to the dermatologist every three months to get my skin checked, and still do to this day. Around December of 2011, when I was in my junior year of high school, I noticed a dark brown spot in my scar. I went to my dermatologist in January of 2012 to get the area biopsied. The results showed atypical melanocytes. After much discussion with multiple dermatologists and surgeons, it was decided it would be best to fully remove the scar. This would eliminate the risk of leaving behind any atypical melanocytes in the scar, since it was the site of a previous melanoma and at great risk.
I went in for surgery to remove my scar on February 28, 2012, at Children’s Hospital, during my junior year of high school. I missed about 4 or 5 days of school for this surgery. Since the scar they removed was so large, my new scar would be about 6 inches long. I had to wear my arm in a sling for 6 weeks after surgery, which meant I also couldn’t write for about 6 weeks.
My surgery to remove my melanoma was 8 years ago and my scar revision surgery was 4 years ago. Since my first dermatologist visit, I have had 22 biopsies and a minor surgery to remove a mole on my chest that was noncancerous, but atypical. I have been melanoma free for 8 years now. Now, I’m 22 years old and a senior in college. I visit the dermatologist every 3 months and wear sunscreen daily. I volunteer with IMPACT Melanoma on the Speaker’s Bureau and with the Your Skin Is In program, encouraging high school and college students to protect the skin they’re in. I hope that my story can show people that melanoma can happen to anyone, at any age. That’s just all the more reason to take care of your skin and protect it from the sun. After my surgeries and complications with melanoma at a young age, I never talked about it much; I just wanted to be done with it and move on. I’m glad now that I have the chance to speak out about my experience, and I hope I can educate others on how to take care of their skin and prevent melanoma.