Question: what would you do if you had melanoma??

Ken Dutton-Regester answered on 19 Mar 2012:

Well I actually had my skin checked out about a year ago as I was worried that I had some suspicious looking moles that might be a skin cancer. It was the first time in about 3 years so I was a bit naughty for leaving it that long (they reckon you should get your skin checked every 6 months). Anyway, there was 1 mole in particular that I was worried about (it happened to be located in a very sensitive spot- about 2cm away from the family jewels). The doctor thought they were suscpicious enough to remove so I got 4 in total taken out (referring back to the sensitive spot- I have never been so tense in my life when he had a sharp knife and was cutting it out- I didn’t want to actually end up as a Ken doll, lol. The other 3 were on my back). Luckily though they were all safe and non cancerous. Still, it was a reminder to get my skin checked more regularly- which reminds me, I should book in for another check soon.

If I actually had melanoma, it would depend on what stage it was. If it was detected early, I would get it cut out and there shouldn’t be many complications that would follow. If it had spread to other parts of the body, I would see if my boss was willing to sequence it and see what mutations were in there. Then I would use that info to select the best treatment. I would like to be involved in the decision process (in regards to treatment) since I know the field, but would get the opinions of other researchers and oncologists before proceeding.