Hats Good, Cancer Bad

Also published as, "The New Iowan," The Chronicle, March 4, 2010


For my twenty-ninth birthday I got skin cancer. I am not intending to over-dramatize the situation, but those are the facts. I was fortunate to have basal cell carcinoma, the slowest growing and most treatable of the three types of skin cancer. Last week I had the spot surgically removed from my forehead at Creighton University Medical Center and do not anticipate any re-growth.

When I received my biopsy results, I started to think about how this happened at a young age. I have been wearing sunscreen on my face daily for the past sixteen years, I do not work outdoors, and I do not even like many outdoor activities. My fair skin and a few sunburns as a child may have put me at a greater risk. As I thought more about it while driving down the highway under thick Midwestern clouds, I figured I was smart to live in a place where the sun does not shine quite as much as in my native southern California.

Although I was never a big fan of the beach or trying to get a tan, until this summer I was used to something like 300 days a year of sunshine. As kids in California we did not have indoor lunchrooms; we ate and played outside on the sweltering blacktop almost every day of the school year. Outside of school there were always sunny activities as well. I rode bikes with my little brother on most days and on special occasions my parents took us skiing, fishing, or to even to Disneyland.

Having two adhesive bandages overlapping on my forehead has brought to light another difference between rural Iowa and suburban California. People that know me and those who do not are all asking the same question: “What happened to your face?” At first I could not figure out why it struck me as odd. I mean, why wouldn’t you inquire out of curiosity or concern? I came to the realization that people in California – or perhaps just in densely populated areas – think it is rude to notice anything out of the ordinary. I am completely sure I could go about my business for weeks in my former home with everyone I met pretending that I did not have a hole in my face. While I always found it absurd, it had been the only way of life I had known until now.

It seems to me that Iowans would be just as likely to have skin damage from the sun. I immediately think of farmers and others who work outside during the sunniest months of the year. In experiencing my first winter, I can see that I will want to spend all my free time outside when the weather is nicer. When the temperature hits forty or fifty degrees I might be driving with the windows down and the sunroof open. For me sunscreen, lip balm, and a hat are more convenient than changing the dressing over the seven stitches in my face right now. Don’t feel sorry for me, but do take care of yourself.


Copyright Rachel Burns 2010