There was a recent article on Prevention.com about a doctor’s advice to avoid cancer. The usual suspects were there: avoid stress (could someone explain how in modern society we can avoid stress? Maybe we can mitigate it but there’s really no way to completely avoid it…); exercise regularly; and volunteering.
But one of the items concerned mold, specifically the types of mold found in damp living quarters. According to the doctor quoted in the article, mycotoxins and aflatoxins found in mold are among the most carcinogenic substances known. This to me is very interesting because I grew up in a home that had lots of mold along with poor air circulation and parents who smoked cigarettes like it was their job. In fact, when we first went to look at the house, my mom and I complained to my dad that it smelled weird. He ignored us as “overreacting” but as I grew up, my family doctor told my parents flat-out that all the respiratory problems I had growing up were a direct result of the air I was breathing – air that was filled with mold and cigarette smoke (which is a known carcinogenic substance). I’m wondering now if the air I was breathing when I was young contributed to my pink melanoma’s appearance.
The other thing was that the apartment building we lived in San Antonio for the last three and a half years prior to moving to Austin was horrifically moldy. It was so bad, you could actually see the mold growing on the outside of the building. We spent months trying to get the apartment managers to take it seriously and do something about it. They ignored it. We even called one of those companies to come and do air quality tests; but because we weren’t the property owners, they wouldn’t come. I was so frustrated with it, I would take pictures of the mold growing on the outside of the building and post on social media to tell people to stay away. We moved out before our lease was up and as soon as we moved to the brand new apartment in Austin, our breathing cleared up right away. Even the cat stopped sneezing. And of course, my pink spot popped up less than 3 months after moving.
That’s the thing about amelanotic nodular melanoma, no one really can pinpoint what triggers it. Most melanomas seem to be a result of UV exposure, and I did have a lot of that when I was in my teens. But there is absolutely no melanoma in my family, even among the cousins who live in Florida and California and were outside without sun protection for many more years than me. Genetically, we’re about as similar as I can get to siblings. And neither one of my parents have had even pre-cancerous skin lesions removed. So, it’s a puzzle that I keep turning over in my mind. And now I’m adding the mold to the list of possible things that helped contribute to my weird, and rare, bout with skin cancer.