Melanoma Awareness Month: Patrick Guddal

Guest blog by Patrick Guddal, a stage 3 melanoma survivor and advocate who shares his journey after being diagnosed in 2016:

In the spring of 2016, I felt a small bump on my scalp. I didn’t think much of it. I figured I scratched myself in my sleep. Instead of healing, it got bigger, and eventually my barber identified it as a mole. I went to the clinic and was immediately referred to outpatient surgery for a punch biopsy. I got a call early the next day to return to the hospital where I was told of my stage II melanoma diagnosis. I was completely blindsided. I was the first diagnosis in the entire history of both sides of my very large extended families, one side with three generations of family practice physicians. Preventive medicine was a huge priority in my family, and yet the word “melanoma” was never uttered. I grew up in an era before sunscreen, and when sunscreen was ultimately introduced, it had a whopping SPF of 4. We played outside until the streetlights came on. I admit I was quite surprised when I found out that men my age were the segment with the second highest rate of occurrence for melanoma in the US.

After removal of the mole with clear margins and a positive sentinel lymph node biopsy, my diagnosis advanced to stage 3b nodular melanoma, and subsequently I faced another surgery removing 81 lymph nodes from my neck. Fortunately, all tested negative for malignancy. I had started a new position as a librarian in between my two surgeries and was about to start a three-year immunotherapy regimen the following month. I have to admit healing from two surgeries, getting my legs in a new position at work, along with the anticipation of three years of treatment with unpredictable side effects was a lot on my plate that summer.

That fall, while working an “Ask Us” shift at the library (I wasn’t even scheduled for), I received an inquiry about the availability of a meeting room in one of our branches. I provided the requested information and we were about to disconnect when I saw a reply pop up that the purpose of the room was to start a melanoma support group. I shyly answered back “Stage 3 Warrior here.” and I received an invitation to attend. There I met my amazing friend Robyn, who was my portal into the world of melanoma education and advocacy.

My education and advocacy journey started with participation in an online support group, where I slowly learned what others were doing with regard to efforts in raising awareness. I became a Certified Melanoma Educator through the Melanoma Research Foundation, and in May 2017 posted a blog on our library’s SharePoint page sharing my story and relevant statistics about the disease. I was then asked by my employer’s health and wellness division to do the same for the County page, and the response was overwhelming. I received so many emails containing personal stories from colleagues, some of which were very heartbreaking. At that point I was asked if I could teach a couple of classes on awareness and prevention, which I have for the last six years, in addition to working a table at my employer-sponsored health fair each spring, teaching sun safety and handing out sunscreen samples.

Each year since 2018, I’ve participated in the MRF’s Advocacy Summit & Hill Day in Washington DC, which creates opportunities to speak with our federal lawmakers asking for their support of measures to fund research and education. I also created my own event at the Minnesota State

Capitol on Melanoma Monday, Rock Your Black at the Capitol, where we wear black and share educational materials and information with our state lawmakers and visitors to raise melanoma awareness at the state level.

In 2019, I had the honor of participating in With love, Me, a national peer-to-peer cancer support campaign sponsored by Merck as part of their Your Cancer Game Plan. I had the opportunity to meet fellow patient advocates and participate in important work at the national level. I have also served on five Melanoma Research Program peer review panels, where I participated as a consumer reviewer alongside reviewers in the scientific and clinical communities to critique and score research proposals in the hope of being awarded federal funding. Additionally, I have participated in the MRF’s own grant review process for the last four years.

In 2020, I left the library to form Connect Melanoma, a Minnesota-based education and advocacy nonprofit, and the official home of the Black Ribbon Army. With fellow board members Robyn Fine and Cheryl Adams, Connect’s mission is to integrate its melanoma awareness and sun safety curriculum into corporate, government, and institutional health and wellness programming, conduct popup sun safety programming at outdoor events, and maintain our involvement in every effort available to advocate for research and education funding.

The MRF is committed to increasing awareness of melanoma, sun safety and how important it is to #GetNaked for a monthly self-skin check and yearly full body exam by a board certified dermatologist. Your support makes this work possible; please consider a tax-deductible gift today:

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