Many young women feel pressure to always look their best, and pale skin is certainly not “in.” But one woman, named Ashley Trenner, warned young girls that they should be thankful for the skin they are born with, because trying to change it could cost them their life. Trenner began using tanning beds when she was in high school, and she tanned so much that her mother begged her to stop.
But Trenner refused, and for 15 years, she visited the tanning bed a few times every week. She thought that she wouldn’t get skin cancer, and she wasn’t even that concerned when she noticed a lesion on her skin. It turned out to be a benign form of skin cancer, and she was able to get it removed, but this still didn’t stop her from tanning. Unfortunately, the lesion returned, but Trenner didn’t think much of it until it grew larger and became painful.
When she finally got it looked at, doctors informed her that she had melanoma, at just 33 years old. After receiving her diagnosis, Trenner underwent treatment to get rid of the cancer, and this worked, but only for awhile. The cancer kept coming back, and after awhile, Trenner’s outlook didn’t look very good. So she made it her mission to spread awareness about the disease and the dangers of tanning beds with the time she had left. In the final days of her life, Trenner sat down with an interview with a local news station, during which she warned other young girls about the havoc tanning can wreak on your body. She also stated that, in a way, by paying for tanning sessions, she essentially paid to get the disease. Shortly after the interview, Trenner passed away, but she should feel good knowing that she was able to spread an important message to young girls across the globe.
