We look forward to working with our friends, sponsors and supporters to make 2011's event another successful event!  Please join us for this year's event as wel raise awareness for melanoma and also fundraise for critical research programs through the Melanoma Research Foundation.

Block The Sun Run was founded in 2007, in an effort to raise research funds and awareness for melanoma. Please join us in our efforts at this year's 5th annual Block The Sun Run!

Our Story - In Memory of Aaron Anchor

Block The Sun Run was started in 2007 in memory of Aaron Anchor, a local Wisconsin Dells resident. Aaron died of metastatic melanoma in August 2002, 15 years after having Melanoma removed from his scalp. He had no returning tumor.

The return of Aaron’s melanoma after 15 years was shocking and devastating. Aaron's case was in no way a typical one.  It does, however, prove that Melanoma is both dangerous, quick-acting and unpredictable.  Until the diagnosis of Stage IV Melanoma, our dad was a healthy, active, 64-year-old man.  He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother and friend.  He is missed by so many every single day.

This entire experience has opened the eyes of our family, our friends and our entire community.  Losing Aaron inspired all of us to do something to increase awareness about Melanoma.  Not only is it an incredibly dangerous and unpredictable disease, but it affects an increasing number of young people and it continues to be somewhat of a mystery to the medical community.

One of the most deadly aspects of Melanoma is that so many people are diagnosed with advanced stages -lymph node involvement and even more – before they notice skin changes.  After all, Melanoma is not just skin cancer. Many people are shocked to hear that Melanoma is the leading cause of cancer death in women between ages 25-30 and further, even the second leading cause of cancer death in women between ages 30-35.

And so, our mission has become education and research.  We're making an effort to reach people of all ages, to let them know that Melanoma is not just about the dangers of the sun and skin cancer.  It encompasses so much more.

There is both hope and treatment if melanoma is found early, so please join in the cause as we fight to save other families from the fear, anxiety and devastating loss that this terrible disease creates.

For more on Aaron's story, click here>>

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Block The Sun Run's 2011 Honorary Melanoma Survivor - Asherrie Opperman
Each year, we've been overwhelmed with the support of other families in the melanoma community. They've inspired, participated, volunteered and educated at our event. Their support has inspired us to begin partnering each year with another family that has been touched by melanoma to share their story and hopefully reach more people with the common goal of funding research and raising awareness. In 2011, BTSR is partnering with Asherrie Opperman, a courageous young woman who battled Stage IV melanoma at the age of 15. Here is her incredible story:

In October of 2000, at the age of 15, I noticed a lump on my right calf that looked like a wart.  I was a basketball player and a track athlete, and this wasn’t anything I wanted people to see while I was playing.  After a couple of weeks with no change in the lump, I went to the Doctor’s office to get it looked at.  The Dr, thinking it was a wart, burnt it off without giving it another thought. 

Three months later, this “wart” had returned and was now even larger.  I went to a new Doctor for a second look, and this time they cut into my leg to remove the lump and sent it in for a biopsy, assuring me it wasn’t anything to worry about.  Two weeks later, my family and I were given the news that would forever change our lives.  I had been diagnosed with Stage 4 Melanoma, with a tumor that was 7.0 mm in size.

When my parents told me I had melanoma, I really didn’t understand what they were talking about.  I was born in Hawaii, and spent several years in California before my family and I moved to central Wisconsin.  I was very healthy and active in sports, and hadn’t been sunburned a day in my life. 

I had my first CT scan the next day, and the Doctors warned my parents that with a tumor this large, things didn’t look good.  Following the CT scan, we went to UW Madison for further testing.  At UW I had surgery to remove more tissue around my tumor and a sentinel node biopsy.  I also had a PET scan done.  It was then that we found out that the melanoma had spread to the lymph nodes in my groin.  I had another surgery done to remove all the lymph nodes in my right groin. 
It was time to discuss treatment options.  I can remember sitting in the hospital room as the Doctors discussed my outlook.  23% stood out the most.  The doctors were giving me a 23% chance at seeing my 16th birthday, and if I was lucky enough to see that birthday, a 43% chance of being 20.  I distinctly remember the following thoughts running through my head during this session: “I have cancer, it doesn’t have me.” 

They suggested I start interferon, the only treatment then approved by the FDA for melanoma treatment.  It was described as a year long process during which I would feel as though I had the flu the entire time.  They couldn’t say for certain if this treatment would significantly help my survival odds.

My family and I all agreed that this was not the route I should take.  We started researching other options, and spoke with many others in the melanoma community.  We came across a woman in Chicago that told us about a clinical trial being set up by a Dr. Richards at Lutheran General in Park Ridge, IL.  We set up a meeting and Dr. Richards, and the first time we met him, he grabbed me by the hand and asked if I was ready to beat this.  I knew right away this was the right Doctor for me. 

I wasn’t 18, so it was a process to get approved before I could enroll in the trial.  In March I started my first round of Bio-Chemo, and for the next four months the hospital became my second home.  In October of 2001, I had the first CT scan since my initial diagnosis.  Six months later, another CT scan, same result.  Every year that followed, my CT scan has showed no cancer, and last year, I celebrated 10 years free of cancer.


Join the Aaron Anchor and Asherrie Opperman families in their quest for awareness, their passion for early detection and their fight for more research dollars. Melanoma is preventable and treatable with early diagnosis so help us today and we can, and will certainly save lives!