Famous last words. Today I want to share with you the story of my college roommate’s sister.

Kearsley Lloyd has everything that any young woman would want.  By the age of twenty-six she had launched her own successful business, The Tipsy Skipper, and was doing what she loved: designing gorgeous fashion inspired by a sea loving, New England lifestyle.

Kearsley was also diagnosed with Melanoma. Twice.

Kearsley reminds us below, that you have to be your own champion when it comes to your health- even if that means making things uncomfortable, because that uncomfortableness may just be what saves your life.

Be persistent because your life may quite literally be at stake! If I had listened to two dermatologists, I would very likely have lost the chance to celebrate my thirtieth birthday. While insisting upon a biopsy made for some awkward moments and an irritated doctor, it was the difference between metastatic cancer and the urgent treatment I needed to save my life.

Kearsley’s story and her message are an important reminder to get your skin checked and that cancer does not discriminate.  It doesn’t care how old you are, what your gender is or what your race is.  It doesn’t care if you went to college and fulfilled your dreams afterwards.  It doesn’t care what you have planned for your future.

I encourage you to head on over to Kearsley’s blog so you can read her full story, in her own words, and share it with your family and friends.

Many thank you’s to Kearsley Lloyd for allowing me to share her story today.