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.

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. 

MINNEAPOLIS – E-cigarette sales are climbing — and it’s primarily young people who are getting hooked. 

Those between the ages of 18 and 24 vape the most, but 9% of youth between 11 and 15 years old say they’re regular vapors, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

One of them, 22-year-old Jackson Allard of North Dakota, almost lost his life due to his vaping habit — and now he’s warning others of the dangers.

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Besides leading to addiction, vaping can cause permanent lung damage, according to the CDC.

Last October, Allard developed parainfluenza, which led to pneumonia and then acute respiratory distress syndrome. His lungs were full of fluid.

“I was really sick, barely able to sleep, puking constantly,” Allard told Fox News. 

The young man was on ECMO, a form of life support, for 70 days. 

“I had a 1% chance to live,” Allard said. 

His lungs were damaged so badly that in Jan. 2024, he received a double lung transplant — a rare procedure for someone his age. 

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“The first thing that went through my head was, ‘Can I live a normal life after this?’” Allard said. 

Allard and his family live in Fargo, North Dakota, but they’re renting an apartment in Minneapolis while he recovers from his transplant. 

Twice a week, he attends rehabilitation and gets weekly bloodwork. He also gets his PICC line, a tube connected to his veins for long-term medication, cleaned each week. Allard takes 30 pills a day and his family is responsible for giving him his IV medication. 

“I had a 1% chance to live.”

Based on his doctors’ input, Allard and his grandmother, Doreen Hurlburt, believe vaping is to blame for his lung failure.

“When I first started vaping, I was probably 14. I was pretty much non-stop doing it,” Allard said. He later started using a weed vape as well. 

“I told my friend who smokes weed, I was like, ‘Be careful with that,’” Allard said, suggesting that people use marijuana gummies instead of vapes.

“It’s just scary to know that we can make a misstep and cause something bad to happen,” said Doreen Hurlburt, Jackson’s grandmother, pictured here. (Mills Hayes/Fox News)

His grandmother, Doreen Hurlburt, said she complained daily about Jackson’s vaping habits.

“Multiple doctors said, ‘If you smoke cigarettes for 50 years, we’ll see you with lung cancer, and if you vape for five years, we’ll see you with permanent lung damage,’” Hurlburt told Fox News.

Allard can’t drink alcohol or smoke, and his weakened immune system means he has to avoid big crowds.

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Dr. Brooke Moore, a pediatric pulmonologist at Children’s Minnesota, did not treat Allard but often sees patients with vaping-related lung injuries. 

“We’ve seen kids who have been vaping for short periods of time, and not necessarily with heavy use, come in with pretty significant lung injury from that,” Moore told Fox News.

Most of Allard’s friends just turned 21 and all go out to the bars — but after his double lung transplant, he’s not allowed to drink or be in crowded places. “It’s the social aspect that I’m kind of worried about,” he told Fox News. (Mills Hayes/Fox News)

The majority of the patients Moore sees with vaping-related issues are between 16 and 19 years old. 

Some patients have lung injury and others have milder respiratory symptoms. 

“We’ve done a very good job of educating youth about not starting to smoke traditional tobacco-based cigarettes,” Moore said. 

“With vaping products, we don’t have as much long-term data, but in the short term, the risk seems to be as high as cigarettes — and I would argue in some cases worse.”

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Moore said her patients typically vape THC and nicotine. 

“It doesn’t seem to be that vaping just nicotine or just THC is less of a risk for lung disease than one or the other,” she said. 

Most vaping patients have some underlying mental health concerns, such as anxiety, depression or a combination of those, the doctor noted. 

Dr. Brook Moore, pictured here, said patients will come in with a cough and shortness of breath due to vaping. “They’ve created flavors and advertising that mimics a lot of the things that kids, teenagers and young adults like to use,” she said about the manufacturers. (Mills Hayes/Fox News)

“They’re using their vape products to self-medicate,” Moore said. “It shows there is a much bigger issue at play than just people vaping to vape.”

In 2019, there was an outbreak of e-cigarette or vaping product use-associated lung injury, or EVALI. Those cases were linked to vitamin E acetate in vaping products. 

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As of Feb. 2020, more than 2,800 patients had been admitted to various hospitals in the U.S. due to EVALI, with 68 deaths reported. 

But in 2020, the CDC stopped tracking EVALI cases. 

That’s when Johns Hopkins Children’s Center Dr. Christy Sadreameli started to pay more attention.

Many of the vape products commonly sold are “kind of on the market illegally,” a doctor warned. (iStock)

“If you were to ask me how many cases of EVALI happen every year in the U.S., we don’t know that anymore,” Sadreameli told Fox News Digital. 

“It’s definitely still out there. And I’m still concerned about it.”

Many of the vape products commonly sold are “kind of on the market illegally,” Sadreameli added.

“They’re on the market without approval and without undergoing review.”

“They haven’t gone through the FDA review or approval process, and it’s hard to enforce something like that. These things were already being sold,” she continued. 

“They’re kind of on the market without approval and without undergoing review. So that’s kind of messed up.”

Symptoms of vaping-related lung injury include coughing, shortness of breath, chest pain, fever or gastrointestinal symptoms, according to WebMD.

If people who often vape are experiencing a combination of those symptoms, they should see a doctor as soon as possible, experts advise. 

Patients who want to quit can work with their doctor to make a plan. 

There are also cessation support groups and programs available.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health. 

As bird flu continues to spread among cattle in the U.S., WebMD and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) joined forces on Thursday to present a live-streamed briefing on the status of the outbreak.

The presentation, called “WebMD and CDC Presents, 2024 Bird Flu: What You Need to Know,” was moderated by Neha Pathak, M.D., chief physician editor for WebMD in Atlanta, Georgia.

The first reports of sick dairy cows came to the USDA in early March, according to Eric Deeble, deputy assistant secretary for the Office of Congressional Relations at the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) in Washington, D.C.

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Testing revealed that the cows had contracted H5N1, more commonly known as avian influenza, or bird flu.

“Any new disease of cattle is a great concern to us,” Deeble said during the briefing. 

“The H5N1 in cattle is a relatively mild disease. They generally recover after supportive care” within two to three weeks, he said.

“Their milk volume returns to normal, and they appear healthy and continue to feed as they did before they became sick.” 

“Any new disease of cattle is a great concern to us.”

So far, the USDA has detected H5N1 in 49 dairy herds in nine states, Deeble stated. 

“To put that into perspective, that’s around 1% of dairy farms in the affected states and about 1/10th of 1% nationally,” he said. 

On April 29, a federal order from the USDA took effect, limiting the movement of lactating dairy cattle in an effort to monitor and compile H5N1 test results.

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“Under this order, dairy farmers are required to test their cows before moving them across state lines so that we know those cows are H5N1-free and don’t pose a risk to any new herd,” Deeble said.

The order also requires that any test results that detect the presence of H5N1 are reported to USDA labs.

No current food risk, experts say

Deeble assured those tuning in on Thursday that there is no risk with consuming milk and meat.

“I can say without reservation that our commercial milk and meat supplies are safe,” he said. “At no time were animals that are sick from H5N1 or any other animal disease permitted to enter into our food supply.”

He added, “USDA has never detected H5N1 in meat sold at retail.”

The first reports of sick dairy cows came to the USDA in early March, health officials said. (iStock)

Tests have confirmed that cooking meat to an internal temperature of 155 or above is sufficient to eliminate all traces of the virus, Deeble noted.

For milk, the pasteurization process ensures it is safe to drink, he said.

“Our milk is cleared to a high temperature for a brief period of time, inactivating H5N1, as well as other bacteria and viruses that could make someone sick,” he said.

Risk of transmission to humans

The overall risk to the public from bird flu is low, according to Dr. Nirav D. Shah, M.D., principal deputy director of the CDC in Atlanta.

“That is in part because it’s rare for people to get infected with bird flu viruses — but it has happened,” he said during the briefing.

“If and when it does happen, it’s most often through direct unprotected contact with infected animals — for example, not wearing gloves, face masks or eye protection.”

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In April, the CDC reported one human case of bird flu in a dairy worker in Texas, Shah said. 

“This person’s only symptom was eye redness, or conjunctivitis,” he said. “After testing positive, this person was provided [with] an antiviral medicine and thankfully made a full recovery. There have been no new or additional human cases since this individual in Texas.”

Other symptoms to watch for include cough, fever, muscle aches and fatigue, according to Shah.

Experts said there is no risk associated with drinking milk purchased commercially. (iStock)

Although the overall risk to humans is low, the CDC is taking “aggressive steps” to make sure Americans stay well and informed, Shah said. 

“Right now, one of our top areas of focus is around farm worker safety and protection — specifically making sure that workers have access to personal protective equipment … like gloves, goggles or face masks, which can help reduce their risk of exposure if they happen to be working around affected cows.”

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The CDC is also working with local health departments to ensure that sick farmers are tested for bird flu and to monitor their status.

“In addition to that, scientists in our laboratories here at CDC are looking closely at the bird flu viruses to see if there are any changes in their DNA that might tell us if these viruses are able to spread more easily to people, between people, and, importantly, whether they might be causing more serious illness,” Shah added.

Although the overall risk to humans is low, the CDC is taking “aggressive steps” to make sure Americans stay well and informed, a doctor said. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo)

Although the risk to the public “remains low” currently, the doctor offered guidance for certain groups that may be at a higher risk.

“If you happen to work around animals, whether it’s chickens, whether it’s cattle, or whether it’s pigs, and you develop signs and symptoms that might otherwise be the flu, it’s important to make sure you call a health care provider and have a conversation with them.”

Not another COVID, experts say

The current situation with bird flu is different from the early days of COVID-19, Shah said during the briefing.

“We are in a much different place because of over two decades of investment in planning and preparing for things like influenza,” he said.

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“As a result of that extensive planning and preparedness, there are medicines in place.”

If those medications are given early, they can reduce the severity and duration of illness, as was the case with the farmer in Texas, Shah noted.

“This is just one of many ways in which … influenza and bird flu differs from what many of us remember from four years ago,” he added.

Vaccines and prevention

The traditional influenza vaccine doesn’t provide much protection against avian flu, the experts noted.

“Even though they are … basically the same virus, they differ just enough to where the flu shot — which we hope everyone gets — doesn’t do a great job at protecting you,” said Shah.

“It might do a little bit of work, but it’s not enough to take you to the bank.” 

“We’re not at a spot where vaccination is recommended for anyone,” a doctor said in the briefing on Thursday. (Julian Stratenschulte/dpa)

David Boucher, PhD, director of Infectious Diseases Preparedness and Response at ASPR in Washington, D.C., spoke during the Thursday briefing about the potential need for a bird flu vaccine.

“We’re not at a spot where vaccination is recommended for anyone,” he said. 

Through the National Influenza Vaccine Program, the ASPR works with health partners to identify influenza viruses that are “just a little bit different from the things that we’ve seen in the past,” Boucher said. 

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For a novel virus, the team develops “building blocks” of a vaccine, he noted.

“The good news here is that this system has worked the way we hoped it would, and we have an initial supply of the building blocks we would need if we needed vaccines for the [H5N1] virus,” he said.

To monitor potential spread, the CDC is on the lookout for an increase in emergency department visits or laboratory tests that might signal a “cluster of cases,” a doctor said. (REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)

In that scenario, Boucher said, the ASPR could partner with manufacturers of seasonal influenza vaccines for “large-scale” production.

Boucher also emphasized the importance of personal protective equipment (PPE) — such as gloves, goggles, face shields and N95 masks — for agricultural workers who may be close to infected animals.

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To monitor potential spread, the CDC is on the lookout for an increase in emergency department visits or laboratory tests that might signal a “cluster of cases,” Shah said. 

“We’re also more recently looking at wastewater to see if there are changes there,” he said.

People can stay up to date on the latest bird flu developments from the CDC, the USDA, the FDA and other trusted sources of information, Shah added.

“We should be alert, not alarmed.”

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health.