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Participation skyrockets for Pittsburgh Melanoma Foundation 5k Run/Walk

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As of July, Jessica Rogowicz will have been cancer-free for eight years.

In the meantime, the Peters Township resident is devoting time beyond her job as a South Fayette Township High School learning support teacher to prepare for the eighth annual Pittsburgh Melanoma Foundation 5k Run/Walk.

Displaying the type of dispenser that is going on the Montour Trail are, from left, Jessica Rogowicz, Dr. Christie Regula of Sun Smart Pittsburgh and Dr. Wayne Pfrimmer, representing Friends of the Montour Trail.

Registration for the event, scheduled for 9 a.m. June 1 at the South Park Fairgrounds, shows that participation should be nearly double that of 2018. In fact, Allegheny County police are closing Corrigan Drive to accommodate the crowd.

“It’s bigger than I ever expected,” Rogowicz said. “You realize there are people in the area who are affected by melanoma and really didn’t have a place to turn, and so people enjoy getting together at this event and connecting with others.”

She and Bethel Park resident Lauren Simko co-direct the foundation, which raises money for melanoma research and supports awareness programs.

“You talk to people where they don’t necessarily think that skin cancer is a bad thing,” she said. “They think it’s just a little mole removal.”

Rogowicz, now the mother of two, was just about to turn 25 when she was diagnosed with melanoma, a condition in which skin cells multiply rapidly and form malignant tumors. If not recognized and treated early, the cancer can spread to other parts of the body and prove to be fatal.

Casey Doran

A major presence at the 5k Run/Walk will be in memory of Casey Doran, a Peters Township School District teacher who lost her battle with melanoma at age 34. With nearly 120 members, Casey’s Crew represents the largest team to register for the event.

Rogowicz recently visited a memorial area called Casey’s Corner at McMurray Elementary School, where Doran was a faculty member, and was greeted by a custodian who told her: “I never knew her, because she was already off work sick when I started working here.”

But learning more about her prompted the custodian to visit a doctor, and she learned she had breast cancer.

“I caught it,” she told Rogowicz. “I’m one year cancer-free. And I owe it to her.”

And so the leadership of the Pittsburgh Melanoma Foundation and its supporters continue to stress the importance of having regular checkups, to help ensure early detection of any type of cancer, and taking precautions.

“We’re not asking you to live in a bubble,” Rogowicz said. “But there are some steps you can take to prevent this, definitely to catch it early by having skin checks and wearing sunscreen properly.”

Harry Funk/The Almanac

Harry Funk/The Almanac

Dr. Christie Regula

Her foundation partners with Sun Smart Pittsburgh, a nonprofit that provides complimentary public sunscreen dispensers. Two new ones are on the way for the Peters Township portion of the Montour Trail.

Two local dermatologists, Dr. Christie Regula and Dr. Justin Vujevich, founded Sun Smart in 2016, and the organization’s first permanent placement – portable dispensers are available, too – was in Mt. Lebanon, where Regula lives.

“She always brings one or two to our 5k for people to use at the event. Those are really helpful, rather than getting a bunch of little packets donated,” Rogowicz acknowledged.

Regula is one of many who make the annual event, proceeds of which benefit Allegheny Health Network melanoma research and awareness programs, a success.

“Over eight years, we’ve formed that core group of volunteers who are reliable, who are determined, and they all wear multiple hats in their lives,” Rogowicz said. “They have families. They work full-time. But they still make this part of their life.”

For more information, visit melanomapgh.org and www.sunsmartpgh.org.

About melanoma

The most dangerous form of skin cancer, these cancerous growths develop when unrepaired DNA damage to skin cells (most often caused by ultraviolet radiation from sunshine or tanning beds) triggers mutations (genetic defects) that lead the skin cells to multiply rapidly and form malignant tumors.

The tumors originate in the pigment-producing melanocytes in the basal layer of the epidermis.

Melanomas often resemble moles. Some develop from moles. The majority of melanomas are black or brown, but they can also be skin-colored, pink, red, purple, blue or white. Melanoma is caused mainly by intense, occasional UV exposure (frequently leading to sunburn), especially in those who are genetically predisposed to the disease.

An estimated 192,310 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. in 2019. Of those, 95,830 cases will be in situ (noninvasive), confined to the epidermis (the top layer of skin), and 69,480 cases will be invasive, penetrating the epidermis into the skin’s second layer (the dermis).

If melanoma is recognized and treated early, it is almost always curable, but if it is not, the cancer can advance and spread to other parts of the body, where it becomes hard to treat and can be fatal. While it is not the most common of the skin cancers, it causes the most deaths. An estimated 7,230 people will die of melanoma in 2019. Of those, 4,740 will be men and 2,490 will be women.

Source: Skin Cancer Foundation

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