There’s an age-old adage that beauty is pain. People spend huge amounts of time and money and discomfort to be what they consider beautiful. Waxed legs, heels, and the fad of the century, tanning. People have been tanning for years now, hoping to achieve that bronzed glow that promises healthy, youthful looks. Many turn to the convenience of tanning beds and soon find that the pursuit of this kind of beauty is only pain. Ashley Trenner and her family learned this for themselves firsthand.
Trenner began tanning while she was in her teens. Her habit followed her as she got older, feeling as though her fair skin was a flaw and preferred to be tan year-round. Living in perpetually-overcast Washington meant that tanning beds were her best option of maintaining a summertime glow. The mood-lifting effects of the beds’ ultraviolet (UV) rays were another plus to her salon visits. Studies have shown that the UV rays from tanning beds increase the brain’s production of mood-boosting chemicals, creating a dependency on the tanning process. Trenner was not only addicted to looking good but also feeling good. However, those same UV rays have also been shown to cause skin cancer.
Though her mother, Karen, pleaded with her to stop, Trenner continued on believing that she was near-invincible. In an interview with King 5, Trenner said, “I used to say ‘I don’t care if I die from tanning as long as I die tan. I used to say that. I don’t say that anymore.” A small lesion on her right buttock threatened to derail her delusion. The biopsy of the lesion came back negative, so when it returned the following year, Trenner ignored it which proved to be a fatal mistake. In 2006 at age 33, she was diagnosed with Stage III melanoma. After removing her tumor and the affected lymph nodes and drugs, she managed to stay cancer-free until November 2009 when she found a blue-black lump on her right hip. She would spend the next couple of years desperately undergoing various experimental treatments. Nothing worked.
She persisted through rounds of agonizing treatments. Karen recalls that after a particular round of immunotherapy that “she was always vomiting.” Trenner held on and in the May of 2012, she celebrated her 40th birthday surrounded by loved ones. Despite reaching this milestone, she was not long for this world. In the following months, her doctors discovered tumors in her intestine. She only had weeks to live and accepted that this was her fate. That didn’t mean that she accepted that this could happen to someone else. She wanted to prevent anyone ending up in her place. As her condition worsened, she felt stronger about informing the world about the dangers of tanning beds.
King 5 visited Trenner in her home to listen to and share her story. “I paid money to be in the position that I am in now,” she said, highlighting the fact that she essentially paid money for a service that ended up killing her. “It’s just not worth it.”
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[Source: Web Team]
