Melanoma Is Linked To Other Cancers, Not Just Breast And Pancreatic

I've covered the breast cancer link.

I've covered the pancreatic cancer link.

I thought: "What if there are other links to other cancers that we with melanoma, or a family history of it, need to know about?"

And, it turns out, there are. Prostate for the men and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma for everybody, as well as the other types of skin cancer.

People with a family history of melanoma need to be especially aware of the genetic predispositions you now have for other cancers and conditions. I strongly advise looking at these two sites of genetics and cancer information! All of this is too important and packed for me to try and distill it here. And, there is much more to be concerned about than the breast and pancreatic links we are learning about. The two sites: http://www.cancer.net/navigating-cancer-care/cancer-basics/genetics/genetics-cancer and http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/genetics.

This is post short on the surface, but long when the links are read. These are things we must be aware of, keep up on, discuss with our medical teams and families, and pray about.

Yes, it's something else to worry about. But we HAVE to know what research is discovering! And research will discover more. I really don't want to cause additional stress or worry. Really.

I want us to know what we need to know. If we "know" it, we can deal with it. If we don't know about these things then we put ourselves and our families at needless risk.

Ignorance is NOT bliss when it comes to cancer...or anything else. We need the truth to function wisely and well.

As I ended my post about the link between melanoma and breast cancer, so I restate here:

Knowledge is power.

I am grateful for the knowledge, even when I don't like what I learn.

And I'm grateful to God for revealing these things to us through research.

May God continue to bless melanoma research and all of us!