Indian River High School grad Kent McCullough, class of 1988, is no longer with us, but through the efforts of his family and friends to save others from McCullough’s fate, his spirit lives on.
McCullough succumbed to melanoma — a deadly and increasingly common form of skin cancer — on Feb. 9, 2006. But his wife, Kim, isn’t taking McCullough’s death sitting down.
She’s holding a Mela-No-More KENTucky Derby Party fundraiser in her husband’s memory on Saturday, May 6, at the Lighthouse in Dewey Beach (Ruddertowne).
Diagnosed in August 2004, McCullough battled for 18 months, she said. And, even into his final decline, he never admitted he wouldn’t be able to win the fight.
But he didn’t, and as she pointed out, he wasn’t alone. In the course of his treatment, she said the family had done some research on melanoma. They’d learned of stories that, if they weren’t already frightened, frightened them even more — stories of teenagers diagnosed with melanoma who’d succumbed within six months, for instance.
Kim McCullough lamented the lack of public awareness, and the lack of research funding. “It’s such a small percentage, compared to the other cancers,” she said.
Meanwhile, societal ideas about “tan is beautiful” are working against the researchers, she added. “In the summer, that’s the thing to do,” she said. “I mean, we met in Dewey Beach. And Kent was a lifeguard (in the Bethany area).”
But the only healthy tan is a fake tan, she emphasized.
According to the Melanoma Research Foundation Web site, melanoma is the fastest growing cancer, in the U.S. and worldwide. Incidence was low in 1935 — one in every 1,500 people. That climbed to one in 600 by 1960, and one in 150 by 1985.
As of 2000, incidence had reached one in every 74 people, according to the Melanoma Research Foundation.
The KENTucky Derby Party will benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation (www.melanoma.org), where family and friends have established a fund in McCullough’s name.
As his treatments progressed, McCullough reached out to family and friends, advising them to visit dermatologists themselves. Many listened — and while some were fine, others caught precancerous lesions.
Diagnosed early, there’s a 100-percent survival rate, according to the Melanoma Research Foundation. But diagnosed late, as the melanoma progresses beyond its superficial stage, those survival rates plummet.
“He changed lives by causing people to be proactive about their skin care, and not reactive to skin cancer,” Kim McCullough pointed out. “Although the outcome of his situation was an untimely death, I know we’ll change the world because of his battle.”
For anyone wishing to participate, and to help family and friends celebrate McCullough’s life, the KENTucky Derby Party will begin at 4 p.m. (going until 8 p.m.) on Saturday, May 6, at the Lighthouse in Dewey.
Tickets cost $50, with proceeds to benefit the Melanoma Research Foundation. Local favorites Love Seed Mama Jump will be providing the entertainment, and there will be food, live and silent auctions.
Tickets are available through McCullough’s mother, Jane Long — call 436-6315 — or can be reserved via e-mails to melanomore@yahoo.com. Additional tickets will be available at the door.