Van Wynsberghe discovered a new mole while showering last spring. Soon afterwards, during a visit home, she saw her family doctor. By then there was another suspicious mole on her leg, but she still didn't realize what danger she was in. A biopsy was taken and she flew back to the Netherlands to continue her research at the University of Twente.
Only hours after stepping back into her Enschede apartment, her mother called to say that Van Wynsberghe had malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
`I didn't even know what melanoma meant,' Van Wynsberghe retold her story while sipping a power juice in a downtown café. `I was all alone in the house and started to panic. I thought I was going to die. But, then I read on the internet that if it is caught early enough, melanoma is treatable.'
Fortunately, Van Wynsberghe did, in fact, catch her skin cancer early. She soon returned home to Ontario, to have the mole removed. The dermatologist asked if she had ever used a tanning bed. Van Wynsberghe is of Irish descent, making her fair skin more susceptible to skin cancer, especially when exposed to UV radiation.
`I started going to tanning salons when I was 20 years old,' Van Wynsberghe said. `I was working in sales and felt that my image was an important tool for making money. By the time I was 23, I had become addicted to looking and feeling “sun-kissed.” When it was cold outside, 15 minutes of radiation felt warm, like a mini-holiday. A little dose of sun everyday and its benefits of vitamin D made me feel healthy.'
Van Wynsberghe started working at the tanning salon to help pay for her own treatments. `I was tanning every other day for about two years,' she said. `I understood at an intellectual and biological level what I was doing, but I thought I was immune. Skin cancer happens to other people, not to me.'
After her successful treatment, her dermatologist invited her to join four other women who battled melanoma in a new campaign to warn against the dangers of indoor tanning. `When I worked at the salon, I was told to push the positive points of tanning. I feel bad about this now,' Van Wynsberghe said. `By joining this campaign, I hope to help stop others from harming themselves.'
Meanwhile, Van Wynsberghe has changed her lifestyle to exercise more, eat healthier, and live her life, right now, to the fullest. `I am speaking up for what I want more and acknowledging my own needs,' she said.
In 2008, Van Wynsberghe joined the UT Department of Philosophy and is focusing on an ethical analysis of human-robot interaction in health care. Soon she will become a volunteer in a nursing home where she hopes to gather insights on how a robot might (or might not) be beneficial in the caring for elderly people. She will also consider the implications such relationships might have on future generations and the meaning of friendship. Van Wynsberghe hopes to finish her work in 2012.
When asked what her message is to anyone thinking of using a sunbed, she said emphatically, `It's not worth it! There are too many things that can potentially go wrong. For the rest of my life, I will always be worrying about having a mole that I don't notice in time.'
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| Van Wynsberghe's photo will appear in dermatology offices, high schools, universities and public health centers across Canada, warning against the use of tanning salons. (Foto: Gijs van Ouwerkerk) |
Effects of sunbeds
Recently sunbeds were moved up to the highest cancer risk category by the World Health Organization. Research shows 70 percent of the people going to tanning salons are female, primarily 16 to 29 years old. Indoor tanning before the age of 30 has been associated with a significant increase in the risk of melanoma.
Ultraviolet rays can damage the DNA of one's skin cells within two minutes. The results are ageing of the skin and skin cancer. In 1994, 18,000 Dutch people were diagnosed with skin cancer, Last year, this number more than tripled, to 60,000, and is expected to double in the next five years.
In the UK and Canada, legislation is pending that would ban teenagers from visiting sunbed salons. Mary Harney, the Irish Health Minister, has called for a total ban against tanning salons. For more information about the Canadian Dermatology Association campaign, see www. dermatology.ca.
