Hey! My name is Marissa and I am a Sun Rebel. What’s a Sun Rebel, you ask? I completely just made it up, but I decided that it’s a young person who is trying to live a completely normal life despite being a skin cancer survivor. You can probably guess which one I am in the picture above, I’m the one with the hat, sunglasses and long sleeves on even indoors! I was diagnosed at 22 and was lucky enough to have had it caught early. I have spent the past two years trying to figure out ways to stay safe and lead a normal life!
In my experience with friends who have also had melanoma, young survivors can basically be separated into two groups. The first group is full of people who really just don’t care, they don’t wear any more sunscreen than usual, they still get sunburns, and basically they just figure that it won’t happen again. The second group is full of people like me who let their diagnosis run their lives, taking every single precaution to ensure as little sun exposure as possible. I can’t even begin to count how many opportunities I have turned down because an internship or trip was somewhere too sunny.
I’m proposing a third group, the Sun Rebel group. Sun Rebels stay safe while still living our lives to the fullest. This blog will be full of advice, tips, and tricks for Sun Rebels everywhere, from where to buy the coolest UPF clothing to the least smelly sunscreens. Melanoma isn’t like other cancers, we have to protect ourselves for the rest of our lives, and I want every young person to be able to live the life they want!
If you have any comments or questions or even advice, let me know! leave a reply!!
xx Marissa
Sun Rebel 
This is so cute! I LOVE IT! aaaand wold like to point out that despite you being the one with hat and all in this pic you are still the most tan out of us! #epicfailforme