It was in June 2018 when Megan DiDio had a mole on her face and her father urged her to see a dermatologist. Upon examination, her dermatologist said the mole ‘looked fine.’ However, Megan was not convinced and requester her doctor to perform a biopsy.
Five weeks later, her dermatologist called her with the biopsy results and said that she had melanoma (skin cancer).
Megan, now 22, had to undergo a surgical procedure to remove the mole and now she is cancer-free. She hopes her story would inspire others to get help if they believe that sometimes is incorrect.
She told Good Morning America that she has no family history of melanoma and uses sunscreen diligently. Megan said, “I definitely wore sunscreen the majority of the time I was outside. Being that I am pale and have red hair, my parents were always good about keeping me lathered up, but I did have burns as a kid growing up.”
The 22-year-old said she did not think the mole on her cheek was unusual; however, her father thought it was abnormal and urged her to see a dermatologist.
DiDio asked her dermatologist if the mole could be biopsied, as she was about to move to Chicago for a new job. And five week later, she came to know that her mole was malignant.
She said, “I got the news and it was awful to say the least. I had just graduated from college, moved to a new city – this was supposed to be my time to kind of start fresh and start my real life…and to know that this was a serious, life-threatening issue that I now had to deal with as a young adult was terrible.”
She underwent surgical removal of the mole in September. It left her a scar, which needed a partial facial reconstruction; however, she is cancer-free now. She sees her dermatologist every three months. DiDio said, “I just want people to know you need to get checked if you have any suspicions that something is changing on your body. It was something as slight as the mole I had for my entire life changing color. But that’s happening to people all the time.”
