Lacey Adams is a mother of three Children (Caden, Eli, and Millie) and the wife of surgeon General Jerome Adams. She had melanoma skin cancer twice at the age of 41.^[1][3]

Throughout Lacey's teens and twenties, she was a pale blond who would lay in the sun for hours to try and get a golden tan. She started using standard indoor tanning beds at the age of 14, her friend also had one in her house that they both used at least once a week. Today, she understands that tanning beds for all skin cancers, including melanoma, are one of the greatest threats. Yet back then it was just something that all her mates have done. They all wanted a "good glow," a phrase which makes her want to scream in retrospect.^[2]

Lacey was diagnosed in May of that year. They should have identified it early and all she needed was a small procedure to remove surrounding tissue right where the mole was. A few weeks later she had the surgery. Over the following year, after she checked "clean" for cancer over her scans, Lacey was told to see the dermatologist once a year to monitor her skin health but no longer to think about it.

Lacey was married to surgeon General Jerome Adams and they had three kids. The names of her beloved children are Caden, Eli, and Millie. As Lacey’s husband career reached new heights, Lacey concentrated all her energies on raising her children and loving her husband, Jerome Adams. He was sworn in to the challenging position of surgeon general of the United States in September 2017. He'd been an MD for years but now, as the "nation's doctor" and head of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, he's the spokesperson for all public health problems in the U.S. ^[4][5]

She was so proud of him and excited for him, even though it was going to mean a big change for their family.

They lived in their Indiana home state but in January 2018 they packed up the kids, the dog, and the house, and moved to Washington D.C.:

Add to the extra paperwork that comes with government service and the schedule for her husband has been severe. Settling up her children and building their new home was her full-time work.

She discussed it to her husband:

The lumps were still there a few months later, so she reported them to a friend who happens to be a doctor too.

In seconds the friend's face went from bubbly to grim, “Are they on the same side as your mole was?” her friend asked.

“Yes.”

Lacey said.

"Today, you need to go to your doctor.

Now!" Lacey's friend said.

Fortunately Lacey went to see a primary care doctor, who prescribed blood tests and PET and CAT scans right away.

She found out that it was melanoma, again.

Lacey got the news in the carpool line, waiting to pick up her children from the school. Her whole body went numb. Jerome was out of town and was more than 10 hours away from her friends and relatives. She was utterly devastated and had never felt so isolated.

They had an appointment for the next day at the cancer center at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. After undergoing a half-dozen separate tests, they discovered that those lumps she’d felt were lymph nodes where the cancer had spread. It had metastasized to a small area of tissue, meaning her cancer was stage 3C. For some context, according to the American Cancer Society, stage 4 melanoma has a survival rate of around 24 percent, and even at a 3, her diagnosis could have been fatal.

She drifted on in a curious sense of disbelief as Lacey's doctors and her husband discussed their care strategy.

She had no idea when exactly it had come back over the last 10 years, nor did her doctors.

Or, it was possible that it had been there all along.

They still don’t know.

She said:

Lacey had no time to wrap her head around all of this.

She was undergoing surgery at the end of March 2018 to remove 12 cancerous lymph nodes and their underlying tissue.

She then began Immunotherapy, a new method of treatment for cancer that uses parts of your own immune system to kill cancer cells. She has been receiving daily infusions of Immunotherapy drugs for a year.

Immunotherapy has substituted her with chemotherapy (although some patients can undergo various forms of treatment), and she hasn't suffered from many of the typical side effects that you may associate with cancer care. She did not lose her hair, her weight remained stable, she was not continuously throwing up. Her side effects appeared mild: on her abdomen, she had an acne-like rash, dry mouth, and was very tired.

Perhaps, the most annoying side effect was the extreme swelling in her left leg (which her doctors thought was probably a result of having her lymph nodes removed instead of Immunotherapy). Otherwise, she has been able to carry on with her normal daily life and she even put on a fancy dress and heels to attend a formal State dinner just one month after her surgery. Lacey got her last Immunotherapy treatment on May 9, 2019. She feels pretty great, physically. All her scans and blood work are cancer-free.

Lacey's husband, Jerome, shared the following facts and "rules" to live by which are crucial to the risk of skin cancer development:

• Melanoma is the leading cause of cancer death in women 25 to 30 years old, but it’s almost entirely preventable with good sun safety habits.

• Melanoma has doubled in the U.S. over the past 30 years, with young women showing the largest increases.

• Remember: Tan skin is damaged skin!

There’s no such thing as a healthy glow, and using a tanning bed makes you eight times more likely to get melanoma.

• Hats should be one of your favorite fashion accessories.

Wearing a hat outdoors is a great way to protect yourself from sun damage.

• Know your ABCDEs: Any mole that shows Asymmetry, an irregular Border, uneven or changing Color, has a Diameter bigger than a pencil eraser, or is Evolving (changing) needs to get checked out by a dermatologist right away.