Foreign holidays after melanoma

Hi McFloz,

I’m sorry to hear you’re experiencing health issues with melanoma and appreciate your worries, given your family history. 

I know it’s really very hard, but I think it’s important to get on and enjoy life if you possibly can, although I know it’s bound to cause you anxiety. I’m not sure what advice I can give about particular resorts, as in my experience, most hotels are very well provided for with shady spots and parasols. We have an 8 year old and the complexion of our holidays has changed a great deal since having him…..we are mostly tied to the pool, rather than being out and about!

My husband’s melanoma definitely has a genetic element and our son is ginger, with fair skin. As a result, we’ve always been very careful with him, applying Factor 50 and putting him in full sun suits/shorts and a long sleeved rash vest.

We’ve recently returned from a holiday in Gran Canaria and one thing I would say is that we struggled with insurance, as my husband’s condition escalated between us booking it and departing on holiday. Despite declaring the melanoma on the Jet2 insurance when we initially booked the holiday, AND paying an extra premium to cover it, they wouldn’t cover the melanoma when his staging escalated.

I rang about 15 insurance companies and eventually found that Puffin Insurance were fantastic. They covered us with very little cost, even though my husband was awaiting a PET CT and immunotherapy.

I hope you decide to move forward with holiday plans and I hope what I’ve written helps just a little.xxxx

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. It does help a lot and I know deep down we have to live a fulfilling life or there will be regrets further down the line. I am also worried about being over dramatic on holiday and panicking about sun cream for everybody and ruining the fun. I need to take a step back and be more sensible about it all. 

You’re also right, many resorts have lots of trees and shade and worst case I can sit in the room or in the restaurant between the danger 11-3 zone. 

Thanks for the heads up on travel insurance too. I hadn’t even thought of declaring the melanoma as I’m not on any active treatment just 3 monthly obs but you’re right these things can change between booking and travelling. 

I wish your husband well and hope for positive news from the PET and that the immunotherapy does it’s job quickly and efficiently. 

x

Hi McFloz

Very good advice from Ruby which I would endorse.  I am not surprised you have concerns and worries considering your family history.  How sad that your mother died at such a young age and now you have it.  I feel you could be right there may well be a genetic element to it.

My husband died of melanoma within months of our marriage leaving me to bring our son up on my own from day 1.  He was a red head, I am one and so is our son, now grown up.  I made the decision that I was going to keep very calm about the sun so he did not develop a phobia or unnecessary worries when it was for me to protect him.  My parents were so good at this, not inflicting adult worries on their 2 daughters.  For my son I did the usual things with sun cream and long sleeved shirts etc. and all went well.

 I have never done the going abroad to a resort for pools, beaches and sunshine so I can't help you on that except to say that I feel all these places have shade.  Perhaps studying the pictures of the resorts you are interested in would give you some clues. My son was in Acapulco, Mexico for a conference in February.  It was extremely hot but he came back totally unburnt.  I saw pictures of pools with foliage screening and tropical looking bars with shade. Our holidays were virtually spent in this country going back to my Scottish family in the Highlands or visiting friends or self catering with my mother. 

I had an amelanotic melanoma 5 years ago so my son now has two parents who have had melanoma.  In his 20s he started developing his father's nasty looking moles everywhere.   I managed to get a sympathetic GP to refer him to the dermatology department I was attending and now he is seen annually for atypical mole syndrome with family history of melanoma.  Electronic mole mapping is done and this allows any changes from the previous year to be highlighted.

 My consultant told me he was part of the team that found the faulty genes red heads (or those carrying the red haired gene) have making them more susceptible to MM.  He also said that the Americans are working on altering these genes so one day red heads will be able to tan!  Also that red heads usually have a lot of moles but I am an exception to that rule. 

I feel you will be able to go abroad, give your family what they want and be careful with yourself and your daughter.  Do try to stay calm which I think you realise has to be the way forward, for the sake of your daughter.  You want to enjoy life as a family, share in all the things you all enjoy and with some necessary and sensible precautions I am sure it can be done.  When you have done it once, those fears will I hope be conquered.  I love being outdoors and decided after my diagnosis that I was not giving up on working on a ruined medieval palace site or helping on archaeological digs.  Cover up as necessary, slap on the cream and I just carry on.

Hi McFloz 

I can see that you've already had some great replies and I'm just popping on as you mentioned that you hadn't thought about having to tell insurers about your melanoma diagnosis. 

It can be more difficult to get reasonably priced travel insurance when you've been diagnosed with cancer so can I suggest that you join us over in the travel insurance group which is a great place to look for recommendations. Once you've joined look for the thread called 'recommended travel insurance' as that's where you'll find the majority of recommendations all in one place.

To join the group just click on the link I've created and if you have any difficulty navigating the community just drop me a reply and I'll be pleased to help.

I finished my treatment (WLE and SLNB) in 2016 and have found that the further away from finishing treatment I've got the cheaper the insurance has become. For example, this year my premium was only about £2.50 more than if I hadn't had melanoma and the slight increase was because I was still having 3 monthly check-ups.

My advice would be to check out insurance before booking anything so that a) you know you can get insurance and b) you know how much it's going to be.

x

Thank you, this is really inspiring and you are following a similar path to my dad who found himself bringing me up on his own from aged 2 after my mum passed away. Like you he was always very positive but as I’ve become older I can see his health anxieties.

It’s also very interesting to hear about the red head gene. My maternal grandmother was a red head and whilst my mum and I didn’t get the hair colour we definitely got the skin type. I will look into this more as my daughter gets older. 

You’re definitely all helping me to put this into perspective and remember that shade does still exist in other countries! I will definitely start to have a look and maybe just start by booking 5 days somewhere next year to see how I get on. I suppose I have to remember that the damage is likely already done to my skin now and I must continue to be very vigilant but I can’t undo the past or change the genetics. 
x

Thank you tenths is very helpful. I have joined the travel insurance group and when I look to travel abroad I will definitely use the resources. 
I am currently just under 3 month review and no further treatments so hopefully it won’t be too bad to find decent insurance. I don’t suppose the melanoma in situ after the original melanoma will help but I def don’t want to travel without insurance or find it’s void if I have to use it for another reason and haven’t declared everything I need to.