NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — As the weather heats up outside, one organization is looking to make sure everyone is protecting their skin from the sun’s harmful rays.
The Mollie Biggane Melanoma Foundation was founded in 2000 by Jack and Maggie Biggane, shortly after the death of their 20-year-old daughter Mollie.
They tell WCBS 880’s Sean Adams that Mollie’s battle with melanoma was an invisible one, and they did not know that she had skin cancer until it was too late.
“She had a mole high on her thigh that was left undetected,” Maggie said. “We got a call, she was in Virginia, that she had a mole that was bleeding through her pants. And I didn't know much about melanoma at the time and said, ‘Come home, we'll go to the dermatologist, she’ll take care of it.’ So, subsequently, we went to the dermatologist, and it ended up being late-stage melanoma. Six months later, after very strenuous chemotherapy at Sloan Kettering, she passed.”
Her family remembers Mollie as being a lively, active young woman who showed no signs of being ill.
“She was very healthy,” Jack Biggane said. “We had played tennis in April when she received the biopsy and learned she was stage four. So, you can be healthy, there's no outward appearance, and…it's a death sentence.”
For decades since Mollie’s death, the Biggane’s have run PSA campaigns, helped fund skin cancer screenings at schools, donated gallons of sunscreen and various other efforts to raise awareness about skin cancer.
Maggie Biggane says their goal is to ensure that no family has to suffer a loss like theirs and make sure everyone is sun smart.
“If we could prevent other families from having such a tragic loss that's what we wanted to do,” she said.
They also want people to know melanoma doesn't discriminate.
“People of any color, any gender, any age can get it,” Maggie Biggane said.
Even Jack Biggane was diagnosed with the cancer after getting his own screening after Mollie’s diagnosis.
“It was a freckle that was not itchy, not raised, I never spotted it, never drew attention to it. I have hair on my chest and [the dermatologist] was able to spot this and I thank Molly for it because I thought [the doctor] must have given me an extra thorough exam because of my daughter,” he said.
Now, the family encourages beauticians, massage therapists and individuals to be on the lookout for suspicious marks on their clients, friends and family members.
People often write to the organization to thank them for their work.
“Somebody would say, ‘You saved my life,’” Jack Biggane said. “We get these messages all the time.”
To donate to the organization, or to find out how you can help spread awareness, visit MolliesFund.org.
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