News : \'Ban the Tan:\' W. Dubuque mom shares son\'s melanoma story with VSHS students

VSHS student council members Hunter Vogt and Alexis Peterson with Melissa O'Brien after her speech.

Will O'Brien, with friends, after his diagnosis with cancer.

When Western Dubuque waterboy Will O’Brien gets home from school tonight, he will see a souvenir – a t-shirt, perhaps – in the familiar black and gold of Vinton-Shellsburg.

But that shirt will not be a reminder of Monday’s Sub-State basketball game, where Will sat on the WD bench as the Bobcats defeated the Vikings. Nor will it be a reminder of the 2009 baseball Sub-State game in which the Vikings defeated the Bobcats.

Instead, it will be a reminder of a common cause and a common enemy, something that Will’s mom hopes the students and athletes of the two districts will fight together, even as Will grows up to compete against the Vikings on the baseball field and basketball court: Cancer.

Long before anyone knew that V-S and WD would play for a spot in the state basketball tournament, the VSHS student council invited Melissa O’Brien to bring Will’s story to the VSHS student body. His story is the story of melanoma.

Will was just nine when he told his parents that he noticed a change in the mole on his hip.

Soon, his family learned meaning of the dreadful word that more and more parents of young children are hearing: Melanoma.

“Melanoma is not just skin cancer,” Melissa told the VSHS students during an assembly Thursday morning. “Yes, it starts with a skin but it quickly spreads to your whole body.”

Another problem with melanoma, said Melissa, is that it produces very few symptoms.

“You feel great until you die,” she said. She told the students about two people who heard about who had melanoma but no symptoms. One woke up from a nap unable to walk; the other had symptoms he thought were appendicitis. Both were dead within two weeks, she said.

Melissa said she is terrified at the thought of what would have happened had Will not noticed the change in that mole when he did. She said that melanoma spread from that mole to nearby lymph nodes in his left thigh, probably between July and November of 2009. That began a year-long treatment of Interferon, which helps the body’s immune system fight diseases.

Melanoma, she said, is resistant to chemotherapy. The best treatment is Interferon, which helps build up the body’s immune system. After receiving Will’s diagnosis, Melissa and her family members began researching melanoma and cancer treatments on-line. They chose to take Will to the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer in Houston, where treating melanoma, especially in children, is one of their specialties.

Will began a year-long treatment which included four weekly high-dose shots and a 48-week at home regiment of shots. He has been NED (No Evidence of Disease) for two years. But, says his mom, the term “cancer-free” will never apply to Will. No matter how long he lives, there will be a risk of re-occurrence.

Right now, Will has a normal life, says his mother, although he complains at times of having headaches more often than before. He is active in sports, loves to be with other people and is even eager to do his homework. But he and his family will always be vigilantly looking for signs of cancer.

His illness qualified Will for a trip to Chicago to meet his beloved Chicago Cubs through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. While the family enjoyed the trip very much, Melissa said knowing that her son's illness was so serious that he became eligible for Make-A-Wish was very difficult.

Her presentation also included statistics about tanning and its link to cancer.

Although Will always wore sunscreen and never went into a tanning bed, he got melanoma. While medical professionals are working with Will’s family to look for genetic connections, Melissa said his diagnosis is a warning about the increasing risk of melanoma among young people.

A review of seven studies indicates that tanning before the age of 35 causes a 75 percent increase in a person’s chance of getting melanoma. Those who use tanning beds occasionally face a cancer risk three times higher than normal, while those who tan frequently are eight times more likely to get melanoma, she said.

The WD district has at least two faculty members who also have battled melanoma; Melissa O'Brien has also met several others with the disease during her family's ordeal. She and others have begun a non-profit group called "Outrun the Rays." The group's Facebook page offers updates on area events as well as information and other links devoted to preventing melanoma.

The presentation included information about the importance of sunscreen and UV-protecting clothing.

‘Ban the Tan’

The VSHS Student Council is organizing a “Ban the Tan” campaign to encourage VSHS students to avoid the skin cancer risks of tanning before prom, as well as throughout the year.

Student Council members had met Melissa O’Brien at a leadership event and invited her to speak to the students. While Student Council President Hunter Vogt said that before the event, some students seemed uninterested in hearing about the risks, Principal Matt Kingsbury said that as he looked around, he found the students to be “engaged” in listening to the warnings Mrs. O’Brien was sharing. Hunter and Student Council member Alexis Peterson gave the speaker the VS souvenir after the presentation.

VS mom Shawn Gerber was also in the audience. A two-time melanoma patient, Shawn spoke with Melissa after the speech, and shared her story. She said she first noticed a legion on her stomach when she was pregnant with her fourth child. Several doctors told her it was just a pregnancy-related symptom until she was diagnosed a year and a half later. Her cancer was never deep enough to be considered a risk for spreading, but she continues to monitor her condition closely. Shawn says many people already know about her bout with melanoma, and understand why she always has her umbrella to protect her from the sun's rays when she attends outdoor event.