Jan Diamond - “No Such Thing as a Healthy Tan”

Jan Diamond, Chapel Hill, NC

Jan Diamond of Chapel Hill used to be a “beach baby.” “While growing up in California in the late 60s , we were always told ‘get some color in your cheeks.’ Sunshine was the cure for lots of things.” While in college, she spent a summer as a lifeguard, complete with contests to determine who had the best tan.

“I don’t lie in the sun anymore,” Diamond says. “No more trying to get a suntan.  I am a swimmer, but I swim when the sun is not so intense as it is between 10 AM and 4 PM and always wear sunblock lotion.”

Her father was diagnosed in 1993 with melanoma, so Diamond decided a few years later to begin skin cancer screening with Dr. Nancy Thomas of the UNC Melanoma Program.

Dr. Thomas uses baseline digital photos taken during a patient’s first visit to document moles, freckles and other skin features that can be observed over time for any changes. In September 2006, during a routine annual exam, Dr. Thomas noticed a change when comparing Diamond’s previous photos to her current condition and biopsied a suspicious mole on Diamond’s upper arm. The diagnosis of melanoma led to a surgical “wide excision” to get clean margins by Dr. David Ollila, Melanoma Program leader.

Two of Diamond’s three children are still in Chapel Hill and are more careful now about sun exposure. Daughter Amanda Peterson, 20,  a student at Elon, has spoken to a class on the dangers of tanning beds,  and son, Kyle Peterson, 18, a 2007 CHHS graduate who will attend Rhodes College and hopes to continue playing baseball. Says Diamond, “ I didn’t miss his games, I was just very careful about being out in the sun.”

“With a diagnosis of melanoma, you can’t change your life completely,” she explains. “You just always have to be careful. There is no such thing as a healthy tan.”