BUFFALO, N.Y. — This time of year is a good time to remember the effects that the sun can have on your skin.

According to the American Academy of Dermatology Association, melanoma diagnoses have soared over the past 30 years.

But the sun affects everyone differently.

For the Bailey family, it’s brought them all a little closer. They often spend time going around making jokes together because they never know what tomorrow may bring.

“The melanoma diagnosis, I don’t think either one of us thought was a big deal,” Debbra Bailey admitted.

Her family was introduced to melanoma back in 2013.

“Yeah, that as the first time,” Nathan Bailey said.

He had the melanoma removed from his back, but another spot was found a couple of years after, and a third found a few years after that.

“I did construction for years, and I worked for years in the summer time without my shirt and without wearing sunscreen or anything like that. And I feel like I had an active role in where I’m at right now. So if I could do some things differently, that would probably be one of them,” he explained. “When I would work with my shirt on, I would get burned and it would peel. And then you just deal with it. I mean, we’re in construction. It’s just what you did, you know? It’s all the guys did it, right, whether you’re construction or not.”

“Melanoma is a tumor of melanocytes. So melanoma will form when pigment cells go awry. They accumulate mutations and they learn how to spread ultimately, first, beyond their normal compartment of existence. So, beyond the top of their skin. And then later on, also beyond the skin and spread to other organs sites and other areas of the body,” explained Dr. Gyorgy Paragh, the chair of dermatology at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. “The vast majority of monomers will be driven by prior UV exposure. And the most common subtype of melanoma, the superficial spreading melanoma, is driven by excessive sun exposure at certain times burns, especially in early life.”

Nathan has since become much more aware of the consequences the lungs can have on his fair skin. He says he always wears protective sun hats and clothing when he’s spending time outside. He also says he keeps sunscreen in every area of the house, and his car.

“Since that time, I always have a shirt on now. I have a floppy hat that I wear. If I’m mowing the lawn, there’s sunscreen and, like, five different locations in our house, in my vehicle, you know? So just definitely more cautious,” Bailey explained. “I don’t know if there’s a favorite brand, but the kind that you [[his wife]] get me, it smells good. I smell like coconuts. It’s fantastic.”

“I am definitely on sunscreen patrol at all times. Did you put on sunscreen?” his wife added.

“Sun protection does not only mean the use of sunscreen. People need to be vigilant, they need to avoid peak UV index hours, limit sun exposure by limiting the amount of time they spend outside in peak UV index hours, cover up its sun protective clothing, wide brimmed hat, long sleeve, some protection shirts,” Dr. Paragh explained.

Debbra has become more familiar with what Dr. Paragh refers to as the “ABCs” when identifying melanoma.

“It’s still important to remember asymmetry, border irregularity, color variation, increased diameter over 6 mm, or evolution. And I usually like to add to that funny or funky, which kind of brings in the ugly duckling sign. So if something looks very different than anything else on one skin, it’s much more likely to be a concerning spot,” he explained.

Dr. Paragh says the disease has become much more common over the past decade.

“Not only is melanoma one of the most common cancers of young adults, melanoma is usually caused by excessive burning and excessing UV radiation to the skin,” he said. “We diagnose approximately 100,000 invasive melanomas annually. And on top of that, about 100,000 in situ melanomas. And the incidence of melanoma has risen very rapidly over the past decades. Luckily, many of these melanomas are easy to treat.”

However, according to a recent study from the Cleveland Clinic, the five-year survival rate for melanoma that spreads to distant lymph nodes and other organs is 35%.

“Melanoma is a possibly very nasty cancer, because sometimes extremely small monomers can already be metastatic,” Dr. Paragh said.

Nathan had all three of his removed from his back, but it wasn’t until April 13, 2022, his family knew something was still off.

“Each time we had thought that they had gotten the whole, you know, bit off my back. But it wasn’t until 2022 that something happened. Something was messed. So it was metastasized,” he said.

Years after the melanoma was removed, five tumors were found in his brain, and one in his lungs.

“Yes, that was very terrifying,” Debbra said.

“It really does like re-establish your priorities immediately. Like very, very quickly. You tend to figure out what’s important and what’s not,” he explained. “Everybody asks, how are you doing? You know, and when I’ve told them that it’s the best day of my life, they oftentimes will ask about that. And my response is just that. We don’t have access to yesterday. And I’ve learned that tomorrow is not promised. So of today’s not yet. That’s kind of on me.”

Family time and his faith both quickly became priorities while he received gamma knife radiation in his brain at the Cancer Center.

“Recovery, I mean, I suppose I still kind of am,” he shrugged.

Tumors in his brain are now undetected, and the tumor in his lung has remained stable.

“Last May, the nodule in my lungs was 1.8cm. And the last time we went up there, it was 1.5. So, slightly smaller. But what they seem to explain is that there’s no new growth. So if the cell, if the tumor itself hasn’t grown and if there are no new tumors, they consider that stable and that’s good. So I’m a little better than stable,” he laughed. “In life, I’m a little better than stable.”

Now this family has a bond closer than ever.

“That’s kind of what led these two to donate their profits from opening day of the cafe to Roswell,” he said.

His daughter and her husband recently opened a cafe. On their opening day, the couple donated all of their profits to the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“It ended up being about $2,500 from our first day,” Abigail Landen said.

Giving back together, but not without more laughs.

“Everyone came in to see the moneymaker, and while they were here, they bought a cup of coffee,” Bailey laughed.

“He actually told us together a cardboard cutout of him, and he signed the apron he wore all day long,” Landen smiled.

The family hopes to add their efforts an ongoing tradition the family has to give back.