Cathy Mazurkiewicz

Cathy Mazurkiewicz, mother of six, died from melanoma 8 months after her 10-year-old son died from brain cancer. Her son, Montana (named after Joe), was granted his dying wish last year to call a play in a Notre Dame game. Montana died the day before the game but the Notre Dame coach used Montana's play regardless. They won. There were many articles written about the event and Cathy Mazurkiewicz could have gotten a lot of attention on herself because she was dying as well. But Cathy kept it quiet so that the focus could remain solely on her son. Remarkable.

From the Chicago Tribune (AP):

The mother of a boy granted a dying wish to call a football play for Notre Dame died eight months after her son. Cathy Mazurkiewicz died Wednesday at 46 at her parents' home in Bodfish, Calif., of melanoma, said her daughter, Katrin Seymour. Montana, 10, died of inoperable brain cancer. Cathy Mazurkiewicz, the mother of six, knew her health was failing when her son died but kept it quiet. "When she was taking care of Montana, she hardly had time to focus on her own illness," Seymour said. Notre Dame coach Charlie Weis visited Montana Mazurkiewicz in Mishawaka, Ind., outside South Bend, last September before Notre Dame played Washington. Weis agreed to let Montana call the first play against Washington. Montana called "pass right." Montana never got to see the play, though. He died the day before.

Ian Copeland

Rock music agent (and brother of The Police's Stewart Copeland) Ian Copeland, has died of melanoma.

From the AP:

LOS ANGELES (AP): Ian Copeland, a rock music agent and entrepreneur who represented The Police, R.E.M., Adam Ant, The Go-Go's and other seminal rock groups that emerged in the 1970s and 1980's New Wave and Punk scenes, has died. He was 57. Copeland died Tuesday of melanoma, family spokeswoman Amy Grey said.

He was one of three brothers in the family who became prominent figures in the music industry. Younger brother Stewart was the drummer for The Police. Older sibling Miles founded record label International Records Syndicate.

skin cancer widow

Linda Petrons of the U.K. shares the story of the loss of her husband in the Daily Mail.

Why I'm a skin cancer widow

Lessons to be learned

I know there's been controversy over the past couple years about how sun exposure impacts melanoma, but if you're a tanner or the parent of a teenage tanner, you'll find Aleida Keegan's story to be very sobering.

Aleida Keegan loves the sun.

Free Skin Cancer Screenings -- May is the month!!

May is melanoma awareness month so there is probably no better time to see if there are free skin cancer screenings in your area.

The American Academy of Dermatology makes screenings easy to find with their search engine.