May is "Skin Cancer" Awareness Month

May is almost here, and you all know what that means...or maybe you don't.  May is skin cancer awareness month.  Of the 31 days in May, only ONE is specifically set aside for Melanoma.  It's Melanoma Monday.  Next Monday.  May 6.  

All cancers have colors associated with them:

  

Clearly, the color that is associated with Melanoma is black.  Yes, American Academy of Dermatology...BLACK.  Not orange, as this uber silly campaign suggests.  Instead of listening to many of us in the melanoma community, they are persisting with this silliness, and I know I'm not the only one who is offended.  

The Melanoma Prayer Center on Facebook created an event for Melanoma Monday to paint Facebook black...the color it should be!  At last count, over 20,000 people had been invited, and almost 3,300 were attending.  Last I heard about the AAD event, about 600 people were attending.  What does that say?  It says that we're a very close community.  I can't understand why the AAD wouldn't listen to what we had to say.  

Anyway...Facebook will be BLACK on Melanoma Monday.  The only time I wear orange is during football season for the Bears.