Monday, January 16, 2012

Rest Now, Samantha.

I feel like I am writing this type of post way too often. Tonight I share with you the news of the death of our beautiful Samantha Channels. Only 37 years old, Samantha died last night after battling melanoma for 8 years. To say that the melanoma community is sad tonight would be an understatement. Our hearts are heavy as we pray for Samantha's family and friends.

I did not have the opportunity to become close with Samantha. Some of my mole mates were very close to her and that is how I 'met' Samantha. I was amazed by her overwhelming desire to educate others. The woman had passion. I will always remember and be inspired by it.

Yet again, I am reminded of why I fight so hard to educate others. Without education, there will be many others who will die too soon thanks to "just" skin cancer.


I will continue to educate--even at the chance of pissing off others--
for the Tina's, the Samantha's, and the Randi's
of our home,  

1 comment:

Nicole said...

So sorry to hear about Samantha. :( Chelsea, I'm glad that you take some responsibility to educate folks about the danger of melanoma! I'm curious if you can perhaps address the studies that show no link between the sun and the development of melanoma. I feel like there's really conflicting information out there and that people have a difficult time determining which studies are the most accurate. I read something recently about the FDA hesitating to enact legislation that would make parents sign waivers if their children wanted to start tanning...they're apparently hesitating because the studies are indeed conflicting, and of course the tanning lobbies are likely on their asses...but nonetheless, it bears some attention. What are your thoughts?