A Golf Tournament for Melanoma

For the past four years our family has been organizing a golf tournament to raise funds and awareness for melanoma. We lost my father-in-law on April 28, 2011 and honestly before that we did not know how bad melanoma was. My husband and I thought skin cancer was something that could just be cut out and that would be it. We did not know that metastatic melanoma is one of the fastest growing and most deadly cancers today.What's scarier is that melanoma is the 2nd most common cancer in young adults aged 15-29 and the primary cause of cancer death in women aged 25-30. On top of that, 1 out of every 34 Americans will be diagnosed with a melanoma in their lifetime. These stats are just unbelievable to me. It proves melanoma is not just an "old person's disease" and that we all need to be diligent in our efforts of prevention and detection.That's why we host the Steve Yates Memorial Golf Tournament. All proceeds benefit the University of Iowa Foundation and go directly to melanoma research. Over the course of the past 4 years we have sent nearly $80,000 to the Foundation and are starting to make an impact. The idea that we can be helping other families avoid the same fate is incredibly rewarding and keeps us going year after year.This year's tournament was held on May 16th. Our family is so grateful to everyone who participated and helped out. We are humbled and honored at all of your hard work and support. Here are just a few of the photos from this year's event.Please remember to protect your family from the sun this year. Wear sunscreen. Seek shade when possible. Do not let your teenagers use tanning beds. If we can keep helping more families learn of the risks of melanoma we will be contributing to Steve's legacy.