I posted this on my personal Facebook page on May 11th, which was the day Bob Marley died from melanoma. I was surprised by the amount of people that were unaware that melanoma was the cause of his death, so I thought I would share it here as well.
On this day in 1981 Bob Marley died of melanoma. He was only 36 years old and he noticed his melanoma for the first time in 1977 underneath his big toenail. The first doctor that he consulted told him that it was a bruise, likely from his soccer playing. It began to look worse, so Marley consulted another doctor who did a biopsy of the tissue and determined it was melanoma. The recommendation from the doctor was to amputate his toe in order to remove all of the melanoma cells and increase his chance of survival. Marley chose not to do this and did well for a few years without any medical intervention. In 1980 while in NY for a concert, Marley collapsed while jogging. He was taken to the hospital and tests revealed his melanoma had spread to his brain, lungs and stomach. Marley did not believe in western medicine and chose not to follow the treatment plan of his U.S. doctors. Instead he went to Germany for alternative treatments which included exercise, ozone injections and vitamins. Not surprisingly Marley's condition continued to worsen, and he charted a plane to fly home to die in Jamaica.While in flight Marley's condition got so bad that the flight was diverted to Miami where he was admitted to the hospital and passed away. He never made it back home to Jamaica. He is an excellent example that people with darker skin can get melanoma and it is often in places that do not get much sun exposure like in the mouth, on the tongue, and on the palms of the hands or underneath toenails.
On the subject of Bob Marley I wanted to share this also. I'm the type of person the believes in things happening for a reason and things being meant to be. We bought our first home last fall and struggled a lot with the decision to buy due to the state of my health. We were ready to buy, but at the same time unsure about what the future would bring us. We chose to buy something that Corey could easily afford on his own if I weren't able to work or provide an income. Of course this meant we weren't able to buy the dream home we were hoping for once we had two strong incomes.
When we found our home we walked through once and immediately made a verbal offer. (The seller was home when we viewed). We absolutely fell in love with it. After we got the keys and the seller had moved out I went back to walk through the house by myself, and I noticed this decal on the wall in the guest bedroom for the first time. I think it was covered when we viewed the house... knowing Bob Marley's story and the message itself gave me the strangest feeling. It gave me reassurance that this home, right now was where we were meant to be.
This is the writing that will remain on the wall.
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