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We cannot say it enough! Make sure you are screened annually for melanoma and other skin cancers. It is essential to nip melanoma in the bud, halting its ability to move through your body and threaten your life. But who does the screening and how they screen can make all the difference.  Here’s some tips to keep in mind!

Rule #1: Skip Your Primary Care Physician

Surprise! Pediatricians and General Practitioners do not routinely study dermatology in their medical preparation. That means they are not trained to detect skin cancer and melanoma at its earliest point of origin. The result; melanoma is often overlooked or misdiagnosed at the earliest stage when it is most highly treatable – especially in young people.

Rule #2: Find the Right Dermatologist

Before you book your neighbor’s favorite dermatologist, listen to this: not all dermatologists are equally trained nor have equal focus. Some specialize more in the aesthetic and cosmetic care of the skin. Others offer greater attention to the disease aspects of the skin. Then there are those who are equally balanced in both specialties. Do your homework before making an appointment. Sometimes you can get faster access by booking a screening with a Dermatological Physicians Assistant who has been trained specifically in dermoscopy to screen for melanoma. It’s all a matter of a dermatologists training, focus and expertise – and your ability to find the right person for you.

Rule #3: Advocate For Yourself!

Ask a few questions and make sure you are scheduling an appointment with a dermatologist who meets the Gold Standard of skin screening. This is no time to be shy! You should ask about their screening procedures and expect the following:

• The dermatologist will put you into a gown and do a full body check for moles and any lesions. That includes the feet, nails, head and genital areas. If a dermatologist suggests you don’t need a full body screening because you are “too young for melanoma”- find a new dermatologist

• Make sure the dermatologist uses dermoscopy. It is a screening technique that uses skin surface microscopy. It can also be called epiluminoscopy and epiluminescent microscopy. It allows the dermatologist to look into the layers, color patterns and changes deep within the mole, rather than just glancing at the surface.  If a dermatologist wants to evaluate your moles with only their naked eye rather than use a dermatoscope – find a new dermatologist.

Rule #4: What If Something Is Found On My Skin?

Finding an atypical or precancerous mole doesn’t mean you have melanoma. But, it does mean something is changing on a cellular level. Since melanoma in adolescents and young adults is more aggressive and more invasive than in the older adult population – it should always be considered a victory to have an atypical mole removed and evaluated before it can evolve further. Remember: Remove the mole – Remove the risk. 

• If a mole is found to be questionable, the dermatologist will determine if it should be removed for biopsy or if it should be watched. The appropriate time period for “watching” is three months.  You should also keep a close eye on the mole in question and look for any other changes in your skin. Don’t hesitate to call if something evolves and changes before the scheduled follow-up appointment. And keep that appointment!

• Many dermatologists will photograph moles they want to keep an eye on to best detect any change. Still others may recommend “mole-mapping” technology in families at high risk for the disease. This involves full body photography. 

Congratulations to Brigitte Gendron, the 2022 Recipient of the Claire Marie Scholarship in Arts & Design!

The Notre Dame Preparatory Senior will begin her design studies at Fordham this Fall! Once she gets unpacked and settled, Brigitte is excited to immerse herself in the study of Visual and Concept Arts.  Her dream is to channel all her passion and love of design into a career in the entertainment industry;  in film, television or game design. 

 Every year since 2015, the $5,000 award is given to a graduating senior from Claire’s alma mater, Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson Maryland to support the recipient’s desire to study design arts in college. It was a dream of Claire’s to launch a career in interior design and we are thrilled to see other young women share the same passion and excitement. Each year, our winners are selected by an exquisite team of esteemed design professionals from across the country! They bring expertise in fine arts, theatrical, animation, interiors, fashion, photography and film. Our thanks to our CMF Scholarship Committee: Katie Fico with Walt Disney Animation Studio, Los Angeles based Interior Designer Stacey Vuduris, Theatrical Designer Timothy Swiss of Los Angeles, Photographer Susannah Dowell of Colorado, Muralist and Freelance Artist Katherine Boggs of Atlanta and Couture Designer Ella Pritsker of Maryland.

Brigitte joins past recipients who have studied in Claire’s memory at University of Ohio at Miami, University of Southern California, Rollins College, University of Virginia ,Savannah College of Arts & Design and University of Maryland Baltimore County. 

Brigitte, all the best in your academic and professional adventures! We can’t wait to see the magic you create to brighten the world!

Because at the Claire Marie Foundation we believe in honoring Claire’s sassy, fun and joyous spirit while raising awareness of adolescent melanoma, we were thrilled when Claire’s friends created and launched the Claire Marie Dance Challenge in honor of what would have been her 19th birthday in April!

From Lynchburg College Men’s Lacrosse to Delta Delta Delta sorority at the University of South Carolina onto Johns Hopkins Women’s Lacrosse and much more, there was a whole lot of dancing, shaking and celebrating going on at high schools and college campuses throughout the Mid-Atlantic and the South. In the end, the videos posted on youtube, garnered nearly five thousand views and helped spread awareness of adolescent melanoma to those affected the most! Thanks to all who joined in the campaign. If you feel inspired to join in the cause – the Claire Marie Dance Challenge is still open! Just follow the directions below! Let us see your moves!

#AwarenessSavesLives! #LiveLifeLikeClaire!

See some of the videos here 

The second annual Claire Marie Foundation Scholarship for Arts and Design was recently awarded to Meredith Egan, a 2016 graduating Senior of the Notre Dame Preparatory School in Towson, Maryland. Meredith will be attending Rollins College, in Winter Park, Florida to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theater Design as well as Business Administration.

The Claire Marie Foundation Scholarship is awarded annually in the memory of Claire Marie Wagonhurst, an aspiring interior designer and member of the Notre Dame Prep Class of 2015 who passed away of adolescent melanoma at the age of 17. Applicants must be a graduating senior at Notre Dame Prep pursuing an academic and professional career in design arts.

An impressive panel of professional judges determined the winner of the $5,000 scholarship, including Model, Fashion and Life Style Expert Molly Sims, Los Angeles based Interior Designer Stacey Vuduris, Creator and Designer of Danielle Nicole handbags Danielle DiFerdinando,  Fashion Illustrator Inslee Haynes, Lighting and Set Designer, Tim Swiss of Los Angeles and Maryland’s First Lady Mrs. Yumi Hogan who is an accomplished artist and educator at MICA.

The Claire Marie Foundation was established in 2014 following the death of Claire Marie Wagonhurst, a sparkling 17 year old who lost a long battle with adolescent melanoma as a result of changes her body went through during puberty. The Claire Marie Foundation strives to raise awareness, clarity and hope in the fight against adolescent melanoma while celebrating the joy, color and beauty that Claire embraced every day.  The Foundation is led by Marianne Banister and her husband Rocky Wagonhurst, Claire’s parents.

During this National Melanoma Month of May, you will hear many calls of awareness to prevent skin cancer and melanoma. The Claire Marie Foundation joins in that mission. But when Melanoma stands as the number one cause of death in women 25 to 30 and the number two cancer among adolescents, the time for talk is over.

“The future depends on what you do today.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

The Claire Marie Foundation  is proud to be the first in the nation to offer an afternoon of sun safety education and free head-to-toe dermatological screenings exclusively for young people 21 years and younger.  Dermatologist Dr Eva Simmons-O’Brien, pediatrician Dr. James Fragetta and Maryland Pediatrics Group rounded up a team of renown Maryland dermatologists who donated a Sunday to screen young people.  With the average wait for a dermatology appointment three to five months, our registration and wait-list for the April 24th event quickly filled.

The findings of our screening afternoon were astounding.

• Atypical moles were found on 20% of the young people seen with biopsy recommended.
• Some of the nevi were suspicious for melanoma both on clinical exam and with use of a dermoscopy.
• Of those children with recommended biopsy, 25% had an immediate family member with a history of melanoma.
• The young people screened were between the ages of 8 and 19 years old.
• 74% of the young people screened were girls.

Statistically, it should be noted puberty can begin as early as 9 years old. 90% of the cases of adolescent melanoma develop in patients between the ages of 10 and 19 with 55% of the cases in girls and young women due to estrogen factors.

From the time our Claire was diagnosed we saw clearly that melanoma must be detected and removed the earliest possible moment.  We were blind-sided with the diagnosis because she followed all the rules; she wore sunscreen, never tanned and saw a dermatologist annually. What we didn’t know was melanoma can develop in young people due to genetics or hormonal changes during puberty. Despite early detected changes in her mole, we had to wait nearly three months for an appointment to get it removed. We were told “Relax. Kids don’t get melanoma.”  That is when we pledged to open the door to awareness, early detection and treatment.

At the Claire Marie Foundation, we are so proud to empower these families with the ability to detect and stop this disease. Remove the mole,  remove the risk.  If diagnosed with disease, these families can jump into a treatment plan at the earliest possible stage when skin cancers and even melanoma are highly treatable.

“The future depends on what you do today.” Yes it does. Wear sunscreen. Don’t tan. Invest in UPF 50 protective wear. Get screened. Take care of your skin, take care of you and become aware. After all, awareness saves lives.

“Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.” Francis of Assisi

As any parent discovers at one point or another, it is easy to dole out sage advice to our children, but much more difficult to adhere to those words of wisdom ourselves. Over the years, my husband and I reminded our two girls that while they couldn’t always control what life tossed their way, they could certainly control how they responded to the challenge. While in the past that philosophy seemed easy enough to engage, it now is more difficult to embrace thanks to our new membership in a most unfortunate club: Parents of Children Lost to Adolescent Melanoma. It is a club we tried desperately to avoid. It is a club which guarantees life-time membership with no option of cancellation. It is a membership which redefines every aspect of your life and that of your entire family. It is a club which is growing in membership every year.

For those of you who follow the Claire Marie Foundation are well aware, our darling Claire fell to the hormonally induced aspect of this disease. Yup, melanoma is not always about the sun! Hormonal changes during puberty can prompt the development of melanoma. Diagnosed at 14, she bounced back and kept fighting to live a vibrant teenaged existence until the beast returned to claim her at 17 years old. We are determined to find some good out of this nightmare as Claire did every day. If that means waving my club membership about, I will. The mission of the Claire Marie Foundation is to raise awareness, clarity and hope in the fight against adolescent melanoma while celebrating the joy, color and beauty Claire embraced every day. In short, at the Claire Marie Foundation, we want nothing more than to limit membership in this unfortunate club and that begins with awareness, education and early screenings. As a foundation, we personally can’t find a cure to melanoma, but we can wave the warning flag and help others create a path to early detection. As part of recommended healthcare, we screen for breast cancer, prostate cancer,ovarian cancer, even dental and eye problems. Shouldn’t we routinely screen our skin? After all, it is the only cancer than can be seen with the human eye on the largest organ in our body. If a pre-cancerous or a-typical mole is discovered early and removed before it becomes malignant, membership in this club could go way down! Have we not learned anything from the success of breast cancer and other cancer screenings?

I recently joined other unfortunate club members and scientists the Melanoma Research Alliance forum in Washington D.C. It was an impressive gathering. I was astounded at the remarkable level of world-class scientific leaders who were present to share information and listen to stories from the “trenches”; tales from patients and non-profit advocates alike. They are compassionate, dedicated medical warriors committed to treating and curing this disease and thank goodness for them! I just wish the medical world would put as much effort toward prevention and detection as they do looking for a cure. We know melanoma is one of the most aggressive and deadly cancers. Early detection is essential to survival. Yet, the mention of the need for routine skin screening seems to bring about the awkward sound of crickets in the room. There was an extensive study presented during one session that validated the positive consequences of screening. Think about that for a moment. A study? Really? We need expensive studies to tell us screening and removing the risk of disease is a good idea? Isn’t that what we call common sense?

Here is the bottom line; the medical system is not currently set up to support early screenings for skin cancer and melanoma. There is, on the average, a three to five month wait for an appointment with a dermatologist or plastic surgeon; partly because there is such a great demand for cosmetic procedures. Pediatricians and general practitioners are not always trained in dermatology which often leads to misdiagnosis. Then there is the insurance industry which often considers dermatology a specialty rather than a necessity. And we wonder why melanoma is the fastest growing cancer world-wide.

Next month, the Claire Marie Foundation will hold it’s first free skin screening for young people. In the days to come the details and registration will be posted on our website and our social media. Following the words of St.Francis, we feel it is necessary, and possible and if we are lucky, it will lead to the impossible. Claire would like that.