‘It can be very disfiguring’
Skin cancer preventable but common, Canadian Cancer Society says
The scarring on Trina Peterson’s face could easily go undetected by a passerby, but she sees it every time she looks in the mirror.
It serves as a constant reminder of the day biopsy results revealed that the little white spot by her nose – the one that would always return if she scratched it away – was basal cell carcinoma.
“I was thinking I’ve got to get on this right away,” the Middleton resident said in a recent interview.
“I felt I would be foolish not to take every precaution that’s available to me.”
The mother of two grown children has found several suspicious spots on her body in the last 20 years - mostly on her hands, arms and face.
Detected in the early stages, the spots could be cut out or burned off without requiring further treatments.
“My nose burned and peeled every year for years when I was a kid and … they had indicated that that’s when the damage was done,” she said, noting her first cancer scare was in her 40s. their skin and eyes from overexposure to the sun.
“If people have a family history of skin cancer, a weakened immune system, or a history of severe blistering sunburns … they should speak with a healthcare provider about their skin health,” she said.
Peterson hopes her personal story serves as both a cautionary tale and a reminder of the ongoing need for fundraisers supporting cancer research.
“I’ve been there at the bedside when people are dying and I’ve been there when they died.
You can do that and, as difficult as it is, I feel it’s kind of the last gift you can give them,” she said, adding she’s lost many friends and her partner, Peter Ritcey, to cancer. “But they’re still gone.” The fight in their honour, however, can continue.
For Peterson, this means attending the Relay For Life in Middleton to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society as a member of the Rugrats relay team on June 2.
“This is something that can be done for prevention,” she said.