> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Women bare their scars to save lives
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Women bare their scars to save lives
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By Danielle Paine
Reminder Assistant Editor
Meghan Rothschild thinks scars are beautiful.
To her, the marks left behind from 70 stitches in her stomach serve as a map of her journey through a dark battle with skin cancer caused by indoor tanning and a constant reminder that she is a survivor.
Scars and survivors are the inspiration for the 23-year-old, Wilbraham native's latest project for skin cancer awareness and fund-raising. On Sunday, Rothschild held a photo shoot for a black and white calender in which herself and 11 other survivors posed with their hand surrounding their scars. The message: Your future is lying in your hands.
"I've had people approach me and say that they have stopped tanning because of me," Rothschild said. "It ticks me off that we are a society that thinks tan is beautiful and pale is not and scars are ugly and skin cancer is nothing."
What happened to Rothschild after two and a half years of tanning in booths once a week was anything but "nothing." It all began with a small mole on her stomach that prompted Rothschild to ask her doctor, during a routine check-up, if she should have it removed. Casually, her doctor advised her that she could.
Just two weeks later she would learn the devastating news. Once she was diagnosed with Melanoma at age 20, she underwent an invasive surgery to remove 8 lymph nodes and a large chunk of flesh on her stomach.
Rothschild shares this story with teens at local schools. She said that the moment she begins to show the photos (post-operation) to the teens, in which her body is covered in stitches, scars and entangled in drainage tubes, they start taking her very seriously.
"People would tell me 'you know you've got be careful tanning' and I would ignore them," Rothschild said. "But it was a viscous learning process that took a scare of life and death to give me a wake-up call."
Now that Rothschild has shared her story with local and national media, she has hooked up with a network of survivors who share her experience. Some of these women, including Miss Maryland 2006 and Shonda Schilling, wife of Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling will be posing for the calender.
The proceeds from each calender, being sold for $12, will benefit The Shade Foundation, a non-profit group started by Shilling, a Melanoma survivor, for fund-raising awareness and advocacy of the deadly disease.
"This is a health issue that I feel doesn't get the attention it deserves," Rothschild said. "Every day you still see tanning salons popping up all over the place."
Although she convinces as many people as she can to stay away from tanning booths, still, some won't heed her advise. For these, she now shows the Shade Foundation's new self-check skin video and warns repeatedly, "If you want to be out in the sun, see a dermatologist once a year, it is easier than a regular check-up."
As for herself, she is celebrating three cancer-free years by helping others avoid her mistake. She now wears sunblock every day.
For more information about the calenders, which will be sold at www.shadefoundation.org and at local stores beginning in October, contact Meghan Rothschild at mrothschild84@yahoo.com or 218-4994.
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> Features > Pg 2 Feature Stories > Women bare their scars to save lives
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