Health
Melanoma patients reveal dramatic stories for Skin Cancer Awareness Month: ‘I thought I was careful’
Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer in the U.S. — with one in five Americans developing the disease by the age of 70.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, expected to take the lives of more than 8,200 people in the U.S. this year.
This May, for Skin Cancer Awareness Month, two melanoma patients are sharing their stories of how they overcame this invasive form of the disease.
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One even wrongly assumed that what she was experiencing “was just a normal part of aging and sun exposure.” Here’s what others can learn.
What is melanoma?
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that starts in the melanocytes, which are the cells that produce the skin’s pigmentation (color).
Most cases — but not all — are caused by exposure to ultraviolet light. Melanoma can affect people of all skin tones and types.
“Melanoma is one of the most common type of cancer in younger patients,” Nayoung Lee, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at NYU Langone Health, told Fox News Digital.
Abby Weiner, pictured at left and at right with her husband and sons, was diagnosed with melanoma in Oct. 2023. (Abby Weiner)
The prognosis is “very good” when melanoma is detected early, but the survival rate falls steeply when it is detected at a more advanced stage, she noted.
“Melanoma can spread through the bloodstream to your lymph nodes and distant organs, so it is crucial to do regular skin exams to try to catch it at an early stage,” Lee said.
One mom’s story
Abby Weiner, 43, a wife and mother of three young boys living in Washington, D.C., had always been careful about protecting her skin from the sun — which is why her Oct. 2023 melanoma diagnosis was such a shock, she said.
“I had a spot on my cheek that started as a freckle and began getting darker and larger,” she told Fox News Digital.
“I assumed it was just a normal part of aging and sun exposure.”
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Weiner’s sister encouraged her to get it checked out — which led to a biopsy and diagnosis.
“I was obviously shocked and frightened at first,” said Weiner.
Her melanoma was removed using Mohs surgery, a procedure in which thin layers of skin are removed one at a time.
“I required two procedures to remove the cancer and surrounding margins,” she said. “Now, most people don’t even know I had surgery.”
To others, Weiner’s advice is to remember to seek shade, wear sun-protective clothing, and apply a broad-spectrum, water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher on a daily basis all year long.
“If we were eating outdoors and there wasn’t a table in the shade, I would end up sitting in the sun.”
“I thought I was careful about protecting myself from sun exposure by wearing a hat or applying sunscreen when my family was at the pool or planning to be outdoors — but if we were eating outdoors and there wasn’t a table in the shade, I would end up sitting in the sun.”
Now, Weiner said she will wait a little longer for a shaded table, and she always keeps a hat and sunscreen with her.
“My sons used to have difficulty applying sunscreen and wearing hats, but now that they’ve seen the impact skin cancer had on me, they are more cooperative,” she said.
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Weiner also recommends that everyone gets yearly skin checks with a board-certified dermatologist.
“I have so many friends — and even my sister, who probably saved my life — who didn’t regularly see a dermatologist for a yearly skin check before they learned about my melanoma.”
One beach lover’s story
Steve Murray, 68, of the greater Washington, D.C. area, has worked in construction for several decades.
During his childhood, Murray spent summers at the beach in Ocean City, New Jersey, and winter visits to Florida, where he was exposed to the sun and didn’t do much to protect himself.
In the late 1990s, Murray was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, a variation of skin cancer that tends to develop in people who have had a lot of sun exposure.
In 2008, he was diagnosed with melanoma.
“My initial symptoms included itching and scaling on my head, followed by irritation,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Then there was discoloration and irregularity in the shape of my moles.”
“You don’t notice at the time of initial exposure, but it haunts you later in life.”
Initially, Murray feared the worst — “mainly death” — but his dermatologist determined that the melanoma was only on his scalp and hadn’t traveled to his lymph nodes.
Like Weiner, Murray had Mohs surgery to get rid of the cancer — and he was cleared.
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Since that diagnosis, Murray has had several more bouts of skin cancer.
In 2024, he underwent two surgeries for squamous cell carcinoma on his hand and back.
Now, Murray visits the dermatologist every three to six months. Also, he always wears a hat, sunscreen and long sleeves whenever possible to protect himself from the sun.
Abby Weiner is pictured with her three young sons. “My sons used to have difficulty applying sunscreen and wearing hats, but now that they’ve seen the impact skin cancer had on me, they are more cooperative,” she said. (Abby Weiner)
Murray’s advice to others is to make sun protection a priority when outdoors.
“You don’t notice at the time of initial exposure, but it haunts you later in life when you start developing pre-cancers and skin cancers like squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma that require immediate attention,” he told Fox News Digital.
“Capturing these pre-cancers and cancers of the skin must be diagnosed early with regular checkups,” he added. “Failure to do so could lead to death.”
5 protection tips from an expert
Dr. Lee of NYU Langone Health shared five tips to help prevent potentially deadly skin cancers like melanoma.
1. Skip the sunbathing
“Avoiding a burn is really only half the battle — there is no such thing as a base tan,” Lee said. “Damaged skin is damaged skin.”
For a safer way to achieve a sun-kissed glow on your first beach day of the summer, Lee recommends using self-tanning products.
2. Wear sunscreen every day, in all weather and in every season
When applying sunscreen, Lee recommends using 1 ounce, which would fill a shot glass.
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“It should have a sun protection factor (SPF) of 30 and say ‘broad-spectrum’ on the label, which protects against the sun’s UVA and UVB rays,” she said.
Reapply at least every 80 minutes, or more often if you’re sweating or swimming.
3. Use physical sunscreen
Physical sunscreen contains zinc or titanium, which is superior in efficacy to chemical sunscreen, according to Lee.
4. Learn how to do a skin self-exam
“Check your skin regularly so you know what’s normal and to notice any changes or new growths,” Lee advised.
“Not all melanomas are dark and scary-appearing,” a doctor said. “They can be amelanotic, which means they can be more skin colored or pink.” (iStock)
“Seek a dermatologist’s evaluation if you notice a changing, bleeding or persistently itchy spot.”
5. Apply the ABCDE rule
This is the best way to determine if any mole or blemish is cancerous, according to Lee.
The ABCDE rule tells you what to look for when examining your skin.
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The A stands for asymmetrical. “Noncancerous moles are typically symmetrical,” Lee said.
B is for border, as the border of a cancerous spot or mole may be irregular or blurred.
The ABCDE rule is the best way to determine if any mole or blemish is cancerous, according to a dermatologist. (iStock)
C stands for color. “A typical mole tends to be evenly colored, usually a single shade of brown,” Lee noted.
“Not all melanomas are dark and scary-appearing. They can be amelanotic, which means they can be more skin colored or pink.”
D stands for diameter of the spot or mole, which may be a warning sign if it’s larger than 6 millimeters, according to Lee.
If the spot is evolving, which is what E stands for, it might be of concern.
Lee added, “Because melanomas can vary in appearance, it is important to see a dermatologist regularly for skin exams if you have a history of significant sun exposure, have many atypical appearing moles, or a family or personal history of melanoma so that you have an experienced set of eyes looking at any spots of concern.”
For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.
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Aging is often depicted as a steady decline, but new research suggests that many older adults actually improve over time.
Using more than a decade of data from a large, representative study of older Americans, Yale University researchers found that nearly half of adults 65 and older showed improvement in cognitive function, physical function or both.
The improvements were consistent across the study population, and were linked to the participants’ mindset about aging, according to a press release.
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“In contrast to a predominant belief or stereotype that age is a time of continuous and inevitable decline, we found evidence that a meaningful number of older persons actually show improvement over 12 years in cognitive and/or physical health,” lead author Becca Levy, a professor of social and behavioral sciences at Yale, told Fox News Digital.
The research, which was published in the journal Geriatrics, relied on data from the Health and Retirement Study, a federally supported, long-running survey of older Americans.
The results were consistent across the study population, rather than being limited to a small group of high performers. (iStock)
Researchers tracked changes in cognition using global performance tests and measured physical function based on walking speed, which was seen as a “vital sign” because of its strong links to disability, hospitalization and mortality.
Over a 12-year period, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically. About 32% showed cognitive gains, while 28% improved physically, according to the study.
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“If you average everyone together, you see decline,” Levy said. “But when you look at individual trajectories, you uncover a very different story. A meaningful percentage of the older participants … got better.”
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A participant’s beliefs about aging appeared to influence the results, as those with more positive age beliefs were significantly more likely to show improvements in both cognition and walking speed.
Over a 12-year period, 45% of participants improved either mentally or physically, researchers found. (iStock)
This remained true even after accounting for factors such as age, sex, education, chronic disease, depression and the length of follow-up. Improvements were seen even among participants who started with “normal” levels of function, not just those recovering from injuries or illness.
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“Individuals who have taken in more positive age beliefs … tend to have a lower stress response and lower stress biomarkers,” Levy said. Because age beliefs are modifiable, she noted, there could be a capacity for improvements later in life.
The study did have some limitations, the researchers acknowledged. It didn’t look at how muscles or brain cells change and adapt, which could help explain why people improved.
“Individuals who have taken in more positive age beliefs … tend to have a lower stress response and lower stress biomarkers,” the researcher said. (iStock)
Future studies should examine improvement patterns for other types of cognition, such as spatial memory, they added.
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“In addition, although our participants were drawn from a nationally representative sample, it would be useful to examine patterns of improvement in additional cohorts that have a greater representation of different ethnic minority groups,” the researchers noted in the study.
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The authors said they hope the findings will debunk the myth that continuous physical and cognitive decline is inevitable.
“We found evidence that there could be psychological pathways, behavioral pathways and physiological pathways [by which age beliefs impact health],” said Levy. “It’s common, and it should be included in our understanding of the aging process.”
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Scientists and physicians agree that there’s been a general decline in male fertility — but they aren’t sure why.
Social media buzz has pointed to a few environmental exposures as potential factors, including cellphones and electric vehicles.
But the reality is “more complicated” than that, according to experts who recently spoke to National Geographic.
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Although it’s not clear whether the decline is at a stage where it should be considered a crisis, numbers show that overall fertility — demographically measured by the number of babies born compared to women of child-bearing age — has decreased.
Scientists and physicians agree that there’s been a general decline in male fertility. (iStock)
Dr. Alex Robles of the Columbia University Fertility Center in New York confirmed that clinical practitioners are “certainly seeing more couples where the male factor contributes to infertility.”
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“At least one-third of couples we evaluate have some male component,” he told Fox News Digital.
A 2017 meta-analysis published in Oxford Journals: Human Reproduction Update found that sperm counts in Western countries have declined by almost 60% globally since 1973. The 2023 update confirmed these same results.
Urologists can track declining fertility in sperm quality, while demographic data uses the number of babies born compared to women of child-bearing age as a benchmark, according to National Geographic. (iStock)
Lead study author and epidemiologist Hagai Levine warned that this trend could lead to human extinction if it isn’t addressed.
“This is the canary in the coal mine,” Levine, public health physician at the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health, told National Geographic. “It signifies that something is very wrong with our current environment, as lower sperm counts predict morbidity and mortality.”
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These findings have been contradicted by other studies, however. A 2025 Cleveland Clinic analysis of studies from the last 53 years found sperm counts to be steady.
“There is no evidence to suggest that this decline is the cause of a precipitous decline in the ability to cause pregnancies,” primary study author Scott Lundy, a reproductive urologist at Cleveland Clinic, told National Geographic. “Most men, even with a modest decline in sperm counts, will still have no issues conceiving.”
Potential factors of decline
Multiple lifestyle factors can lead to a decline in male fertility, Robles noted, including obesity, smoking and diet, as well as environmental exposures and delayed parenthood.
National Geographic also reported that heavy drinking and marijuana use directly contribute to declining fertility and that quitting these habits, while also exercising and losing weight, can help.
Smoking of any kind can contribute to a decline in fertility, according to experts. (iStock)
Systemic inflammation, infection and disease can also have a “big, profound effect on the current status of fertility,” Lundy told National Geographic.
Those who are getting over a fever from an infection, like the flu or COVID, will have a “drastically lower” sperm count for three months, he said.
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Male infertility can also be a marker of overall health, according to Robles. “Poor semen parameters are associated with other medical conditions and may signal underlying metabolic, hormonal or environmental issues,” he told Fox News Digital.
Experts recommend seeing a doctor to discuss fertility concerns instead of relying on the internet. (iStock)
Allan Pacey, deputy dean of the Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health at the University of Manchester, told National Geographic that the decline could be caused by increased use of contraception, as well as men waiting longer to have children or choosing not to have them at all.
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Microplastics have also been raised on social media as a potential culprit, but the effects are unclear, according to experts.
There is some evidence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals — which are substances found in reusable plastics and some disposable products — altering male fertility, Lundy revealed to National Geographic.
Myths busted
Concerns have circulated on social media that keeping a cellphone in a front pocket could harm male fertility. While Lundy said such an effect is biologically possible, there is currently no scientific evidence supporting the claim.
Another common myth is that infertility is mostly a women’s issue, Robles noted, but male factors contribute to about one-third to one-half of all cases.
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The claim that taking supplements can boost sperm counts is another common myth, he said, adding that it’s not backed by strong scientific evidence.
“Men should focus on factors that we know matter: maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding tobacco, limiting alcohol and managing chronic health conditions,” Robles advised.
One common myth is that infertility is mostly a women’s issue, but male factors contribute to about one-third to one-half of all cases. (iStock)
Experts recommend seeing a urologist to address fertility concerns. Robles said his approach begins with an evaluation, semen analysis, hormonal testing and medical history, while also exploring lifestyle factors.
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In addition to traditional treatment options, Robles said his fertility center also uses advanced tools that incorporate AI and robotics.
“Technologies like this are expanding options for patients who previously had very limited paths to biological parenthood,” he said.
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