One woman who suffered a huge toll from the sun was Maureen Reagan, the former president’s daughter. Growing up she always had a year-round tan and describes herself as being one to use baby oil and iodine and sun-reflectors. She realized, only when it was too late, that her life would be the cost of that year-round tan. She eventually became a victim caught by two of the three forms of skin cancer: basal cell carcinoma and melanoma. (Reagan). This woman was a fighter, and battled a tremendous fight against both basal cell carcinoma and melanoma. Ultimately, she lost after five years to the latter. After her first minor victory against a bought of melanoma she wrote an article for The Skin Cancer Journal describing her painful road trek with melanoma. “My melanoma was 3.85 mm thick, and the danger point comes at a thickness of 0.75 mm.” After its removal, she was started on a protein treatment interferon that makes the immune system more effective at fighting off cancer. “The treatment I received was four weeks (five days a week), 40 million units IV (intravenous), followed by forty-eight weeks of self-injection of ten million units three times a week.” During her interferon treatment, Maureen describes, “It’s like having the worst case of flu for a year.” Doctors told her that her body should adjust after three months, but three months later after a drive to the supermarket, she collapsed in the checkout and suffered a broken collarbone. After her time with interferon, she was tested again for melanoma, and no signs of melanoma were found. In her article she says, “Today I can say that I’m a two-year survivor…and counting” (Reagan).

Unfortunately, she only survived an additional three years. On August 8, 2001, at age 60, melanoma had won. After her article, she encountered melanoma several more times. With her original diagnosis of melanoma occurring in December of 1996, she encountered it again October 2000 when the disease infected several lymph nodes in her right groin and thigh. She had all of her lymph nodes between her right knee and groin removed. Less than five weeks later, a tumor had developed on her right pubic bone. She then began her first biochemotherapy treatments of thir teen, twenty-eight day cycles. In May 2001 tests revealed additional sites of infection in her upper humerus and radius bones of her right arm, the soft tissue of her right groin, two or three places in the liver, and a spot on the right ribs. She decided to attack this disease even more aggressively and moved up to weekly infusion of a chemotherapy drug called Taxol and received nightly does of Thalidomide. To no avail, the disease progressed to the humerus of her left arm, mandible of the left jaw, right wrist, and three spots on the femur of her left leg. She refused to give up, and continued to undergo the physically stressing chemo treatments. Her efforts remained futile and the disease finally found victory when it developed a “3 cm lesion in the right occipital region of her brain and a 5 mm lesion in the left peritrigonal region of her brain.” Determined to fight to the end, Maureen put herself through whole brain radiation that consisted of ten treatments coinciding with “steroids, anticonvulsants, and diuretics to reduce intracranial pressure associated with cerebral edema and to stop further seizures” (Archived). Her vigilance was futile and her efforts to survive were ended. Melanoma had taken another life.

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