"As a young girl, I always imagined 16 as the perfect age.  It's the year teenagers earn their driver's licenses, attend prom and visit colleges.  In my young eyes, a sixteen-year-old's life was filled with promise.  As I began my junior year of high school, however, I learned my "sweet sixteen" would be a far different experience than I had anticipated. 

On August 29, 2003, my world flipped around when I learned my school physical had lead to a diagnosis: Advanced Melanoma.  Before that day, I couldn't define "melanoma."  I thought skin cancer affected middle-aged men and elderly women who never wore sunscreen.  Yes, I was blonde and fair-skinned, but I felt healthy.  I was sixteen ...