Young Wheaton mom never expected melanoma. Now she wants others to protect their skin

When you picture a patient who’s faced melanoma — the deadliest form of skin cancer — Ashley Daly is not who comes to mind.

Melanoma of the skin is most frequently diagnosed among people 65 to 74 years old, the National Cancer Institute has reported.

Daly was just 35 when she received her initial diagnosis.

“It all started right after my daughter was born,” Daly said.

That was in July 2020. The Wheaton mom noticed a mole on the back of her calf and “didn’t even think it was going to be something more.”

She had surgery and continued routine skin checks. About three years later, she was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma. Immunotherapy shrank a golf ball-sized tumor before surgery.

“I would say, very courageously, I think, is how she's handled it,” said Dr. Lauren Taglia, her dermatologist at Northwestern Medicine.

With summer approaching — the season of barbecues, baseball games and afternoons at the pool — Daly and Taglia stress the importance of sun protection. Having learned that “not all sunscreens are created equal,” Daly wears SPF 50.

“I don’t think you think about it necessarily, if you haven’t been through what I’ve been through,” she said.

The big news on that front? The Food and Drug Administration announced in December that it had proposed adding bemotrizinol as a permitted active ingredient for use in sunscreens.

“I think this will give people an option for something that feels nice on the skin, doesn't feel greasy, is really kind of elegant, and it's going to feel effortless,” Taglia said.

What to know about sunscreen

The American Academy of Dermatology Association applauded the FDA proposal, noting the proposed sunscreen filter has already been approved in Europe for a long time. According to the Rosemont-based group, the FDA has approved 16 UV filters over the years, the last one more than 25 years ago.

“I am so excited because I think for many people, what holds them back is, ‘I don't like the way sunscreen feels,’ and that is both men and women,” Taglia said.

Based on data reviewed by the FDA, bemotrizinol provides protection against both ultraviolet A and B rays and rarely causes skin irritation, the agency said.

“For people who are looking for options that are a little bit more elegant, they rub into the skin, we have hope on the horizon, and I'm hoping it's just the first of many,” said Taglia, who practices in Naperville.

Regardless, don’t wait for that sunscreen filter. The academy recommends that everyone use a water-resistant sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher and broad-spectrum protection against both UVA and UVB rays. When outdoors, reapply sunscreen “approximately every two hours.”

People, though, are human.

“We don't apply enough, we don't get it on enough, and then we certainly don't reapply enough,” Taglia said. “And so sunscreen alone, although it's very important, it's probably not our only strategy. The best kind of strategy for sun protection is kind of layering different methods.”

Mineral sunscreens — those that use titanium dioxide or zinc oxide — are sometimes referred to as physical blockers and act mostly like a shield. Chemical sunscreens are the other main category.

“It was always taught that, ‘oh, the physical blockers, 100% of it is reflected,’ but it's not. Some of it is absorbed,” Taglia said.

Not sure which to use?

“Any sunscreen is better than no sunscreen,” Taglia said.

A multipronged defense

The academy also opposes indoor tanning, citing multiple studies that show exposure to UV radiation from indoor tanning devices is associated with an increased risk of melanoma and nonmelanoma skin cancer.

Limit time in the sun, especially between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., when the sun’s rays are most intense, the FDA advises.

“Certainly it's a big, major contributor — 80% of the contributing factor of skin cancers are attributed to UV exposure. But with that said, it's not the enemy,” Taglia said.

The academy recommends sun-protective clothing — Daly tries to wear long sleeves — and, for more “effective” protection, choose clothing with an ultraviolet protection factor on the label.

“Usually it's UPF 50. That seal means that you're blocking basically 99% of the sun. And so when you layer that with sunscreen, and you have a hat or an umbrella or shade, like all of that layered together, you're really much better protected than if you just put the sunscreen on,” Taglia said.

And make that appointment for a skin check.

“I just think, as a mom and a parent, not necessarily just a mom, I think we put everyone else first, and we just don’t prioritize ourselves, because we’re busy doing x, y and z,” said Daly, who has a 9-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter.

‘Just meant the world’

Daly completed a total of 13 months of immunotherapy. Taglia called it a “tremendous breakthrough.”

“For a metastatic melanoma, it would have been a different conversation a decade earlier,” she said.

Northwestern Medicine Dr. John Ayers said immunotherapy has been a “complete game changer.” It’s being used for multiple cancers.

“But melanoma is the poster child for it because it's where it first started, and it's still the one that we get the best responses and the most long-term responses from,” said Ayers, who specializes in hematology and oncology, and had Daly as a patient.

Her latest scan showed no signs of cancer.

“If you don't have your health, everything else seems so inconsequential,” she said. “So to know that I was cancer-free, just meant the world.”