LBNY Skin Cancer Awareness Walk

Hello all!

My name is Gabrielle Martinez and I live in the beautiful city of Long Beach, New York. My parents moved here in the early 90's because they loved Long Beach's wonderful sense of community. Who wouldn't want to live a few blocks from the beach? 

In 2002, my family was hit hard with the news that my mother had developed an aggressive case of melanoma. After surgery and post-operative treatments she thankfully, went into remission. She grew up in a time when sunscreen hardly existed and has childhood memories of her mother putting cocoa butter on her skin to moisturize her fair skin in the sun. During summers spent on Rockaway Beach, her brother and she were the reigning Freckle King and Queen year after year! After moving to Long Beach, she, like many of us, was a weekend warrior: she worked hard all week and then packed up the family and went to relax with family and friends at the beach on weekends. What she didn't realize was how damaging the sun was to her beautiful skin. Since my mother went into remission for melanoma, she continues to develop different types of skin cancer, though thankfully they are less aggressive forms than melanoma. She has to take extreme precautions when it comes to sun exposure and must be screened by her dermatologist. Skin cancer has changed the way she enjoys the sun and how she lives her life.

My mom's story is only one of millions of families' stories. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, skin cancer is the most common type of cancer and it affects over two million Americans every year. If screened, diagnosed, and treated early, it is also one of the easiest cancers to cure! When allowed to progress, however, skin cancer can cause disfigurement and in some cases, death. As a beach community we owe it to ourselves and our children to be educated about the very preventable everyday dangers of skin cancer.

Please join me, as I raise money and awareness for the Skin Cancer Foundation by organizing a Safe Sun Walk/Run through the city of Long Beach. Any donation is appreciated, whether it's $1 or more!

100% of all the money we raise on GoFundMe will go towards making the Safe Sun Walk/Run a reality. If we pass our goal of $2000, I will put 100% of all proceeds toward the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Thank you all for your time and consideration. I hope you think this is a worthy cause and can spare a small donation!