Jody Holcomb - “Sun And Skin Crusader”

Jody Holcomb, Kill Devil Hills, NC

Jody Holcomb, from Kill Devil Hills, was sunburned a lot while growing up on the Outer Banks. "It was part of growing up where I did. Everyone had a tan," she explained.

Her sister, a medical student at UNC, noticed a mole on Jody's hip, just at the bathing suit line and told her she needed to have it checked. But Jody delayed. "My mother had just died of ovarian cancer, so the Pap smear was my big worry." Once that test was behind her, she asked her doctor to check out three moles. Two he removed, but the third caught his attention, She was called back to his office very quickly when he told her that she had Stage Three melanoma that had spread to her lymph nodes and that she would requite surgery and possibly additional therapy.

"I could have gone to Norfolk, only two hours away, but my sister and brother are both in Chapel Hill, so I came to see Dr. David Ollila who explained to me what the surgery would entail. Being seen four days after getting the news about the melanoma was wonderful." A week later, Holcomb had surgery and a sentinel node biopsy.

His nurse, the late Charmayne Gray, was "reassuring and fabulous. After my surgery, she called me at 6 AM to tell me that the biopsy results showed that the surgery removed the cancer and that I didn't have to have further therapy. She didn’t want me to worry a moment longer."

She is now followed by Drs. Ollila and Nancy Thomas, a dermatologist with the Melanoma Program.

Holcomb's experience with melanoma has made her a crusader about avoiding the sun and taking care of skin. She plans to talk at local middle and high schools about the dangerous effects of the sun. Holcomb and her husband Ed have three teenage daughters, Dixie, 18, Hannah, 15 and Casey, 13.