How it all began…where to even start? This little man named Cooper came into our world and everything changed. A new baby, 4 year old daughter, sleep deprived, change to everything we knew, and it was perfect. Weeks after Cooper was born I developed a rash on both my arms, and no matter what treatment, natural and medical, it just wouldn’t go away. So there I was in the dermatologist office with a newborn baby, a 4 year old, thinking I’m getting a disgusting, itchy, and hideous rash checked out, when the doctor asked me, “have you ever been checked for melanoma?”
There I was, the question that I knew one day would come up, but it had never actually been asked. Take me back to my mid teens, full of acne, longing to fit in, and finding tanning beds! Ill never forget it: when I was 15, my chest was covered in acne. COVERED! No matter how many medications and topical treatments I tried, the acne was there, and not going anywhere. One short and hot trip to Vegas, devastating sunburn, skin peeling, and my battle with acne was gone. I was hooked to the sun and tanning beds. Heck, my mom signed the papers…my Dad used to drive me to appointments to the tanning salon. We all remember that social status word that would make me feel superior to others: “tanorexic”.
I was proud of my tan, proud of that dark bronzed skin, the way it made me feel, the confidence it gave me. Year after year, week after week, I went to those tanning salons, and proudly bronzed my ass off. No one knew the damage the uv lights were causing. Heck, there used to be radio & TV adds promoting UV tanning for vitamin D. In my early 20’s I stopped tanning. Nothing major happened. I was a broke student, and putting money towards a monthly tanning membership was just not within my means. But don’t think that didn’t stop me from getting my tan on in the summer months, and beach bummin to my full potential anytime I could just to get that perfect glow. The price I would eventually pay never crossed my mind.
Fast forward to my late 20’s, 2 week old baby girl, bachelorette party in the schedule, and 20+ pounds still holding on to every curve of my body, my sister in law says to me, “Britt! You have to come get an Organic Tan! It’s life changing.” And life changing it was. I’d never heard of this SunnaTan glow! Anything I knew about self-tanning and spray tans was watching Ross getting assaulted on the most hilarious FRIENDS episode of all time. I was glowing, golden, not orange, no streaking, no blotching, perfectly blended on my hands, wrists, and feet, it was the tan I always wanted, but in 15 minutes time. SERIOUSLY! What is this magic tan? I was hooked from that moment on, and not having that flawless glow all day every day was not even an option.
Ill never forget that call, Christmas Eve 2017, “Hello Mrs. Prete, We reviewed the results of your biopsies. You have stage 1 melanoma on you’re your leg, lower back, and possible your right cheek. Don’t worry, we will deal with this in the New Year. There’s a 60% chance you will die before age 60 from melanoma, but don’t worry, we should get most of it.” There is was, that looming dark cloud that you’ve been warned about for years, heard on the radio, seen on the news, and just like that, I was a statistic. Everything I had done to take care of my skin for over a decade was for nothing. The constant application of sunscreen for every season, airbrush tans, self-tanners, hats, staying in shade in the summer.
The damage I had done in my late teens had caught up with me, and I immediately knew there was a reason this happened to me. I have a voice, I have passion, and this gave me the push I needed to insert myself into something I should have invested in years ago.
Hello Organic Tan Okotoks!
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