Source: American Cancer Society, May 2025
For CJ, a busy restaurant general manager getting ready for his 38th birthday, life was moving fast. Juggling 60-hour work weeks and preparing for a trip to Spain, he barely noticed the small, itchy bump on his thigh. “I didn’t think anything of it," CJ said. “If anything, I thought it was a mosquito bite.”
But this bump was different. It grew quickly, and within three months, it became a mass half an inch off his skin that started bleeding. Even though he still thought it was harmless, the rapid change in its appearance led CJ to schedule an appointment with a dermatologist.
The reality was that CJ had a very serious condition. The diagnosis came fast: melanoma. CJ describes his experience as “the fastest moving train I’ve ever seen." Within two weeks after that first dermatology appointment, CJ had imaging tests and an urgently scheduled surgery. The cancer, classified as stage IIIB melanoma, had already spread to the lymph nodes in his groin.