My Story
Jim Darwin - President
“Golf is a game I love,” he often says, “but loving it doesn’t mean ignoring the risks. If I can save just one life by sharing my story, it’s all worth it.”
I have played golf all my life for nearly 60 years. And after playing a round at Palmilla in Port Aransas, Texas in 2022, I had a sunburn on top of my head from wearing a visor. After 2 weeks, the sunburn finally dissipated, and I noticed a bump on the back top of my head that began to itch. I asked my wife to check on it and she thought it was nothing more than the moles that I have all over. I suspected something else.
After several attempts to get a referral from my primary care physician to my dermatologist, I finally received a referral after 6 months. Another aspect to this story is, you must take charge of your health because no one else will. I had to force my primary care physician to hand over my referral that I took straight to my dermatologist. My dermatologist cut the bump off my head, cut another one from my leg and froze a spot off my cheek.
A week later, I was at the PGA Superstore getting some grips when my phone rang. It was Dr. Conroy, my dermatologist. “Jim, you have melanoma” she said. That is the moment your world changes. You see, I had 3 friends die from melanoma, one of whom I played the last round of golf with.
I immediately contacted the surgeon she recommended to me, Dr. Alex Haynes. My surgery was set, and I had to first go to Dell Children’s Hospital for imaging to determine if the Melanoma had traveled into my lymphatic system. Immediately after the imaging, we went straight to UT Medical Center for surgery that lasted 4 hours
At that point, it was determined that my diagnosis was what they call T3A N2A Metastatic Malignant Melanoma Stage 3B. Dr. Haynes recommended that I begin Immunotherapy. I chose MD Anderson in Houston as they have Dr. Jim Allison as head of Immunotherapy. Dr. Allison invented Immunotherapy and received the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2018 for it. I began my treatments every 28 days.
It was at this point that I didn’t pray to Jesus to save me. But if I could be a tool to save others, then show me the way. I have shared my story on Facebook with as many as I could and to date, there have been more than 60 friends and family that have gone to their dermatologist and 7 of them they found something. I have received emails, text and phone calls from them stating that if it wasn’t for me, they are not sure what may have happened to them.
At dinner one evening, a buddy asked me “how did they find it?”. I said, I had to get naked for my dermatologist to which my wife overhears this and says, “what did you say?!”. I said “honey, there are only two people I get naked for, you and my dermatologist! Once faced with the diagnosis of Melanoma, And so it begins, Get Naked for your dermatologist!
Skin Cancer Awareness for Golfers mission is to make golfers and others aware of the dangers of over exposure to the sun and to take necessary precautions to protect themselves from it.