Paying the price for the perfect tan

To look at Heather Jones you wouldn't think anything is wrong.
The 52-year mother-of-three looks a picture of health, with a warm smile and lively, piercing eyes. It's not until she begins to tell you her story and the tears roll down her cheeks that you realise she is going through hell.
Ms Jones has skin cancer, which she believes she got from spending too much time in the sun without wearing any protection _ all in a quest to get a perfect tan.
"I never wore sunscreen. Never wore a hat or covered-up," she says.
"In high school we used to rub baby oil into our legs. We mayas well have jumped into afrying pan."
She contacted the Bay of Plenty Times after reading last week's story about how 40 per cent of respondents those spoken to in an informal poll weren't bothering to wear sunscreen.
She says she was so angered by the report she had to act _ she wanted to tell her story as a warning about the consequences of not wearing sunscreen. "People have to change their attitude," she said.
"If I could change things now I would never go out in the sun again. Believe me, the whole thing is a horrendous experience, I wouldn't wish it on anyone."
She was first diagnosed with melanoma in June 2004 on a routine trip to her doctor. She had noticed what she described as a small clear "blister" type spot on the inside of her lower left leg. She thought it was nothing but decided to show it to her doctor anyway.
Although her doctor said it was likely nothing to worry about, he was taking no chances. He removed the spot leaving her with three stitches.
"It was no bigger than the nail on your baby finger," she said.
"Three days later he called me up and said you'd better come in and see me. It turned out to be a grade three malignant melanoma."
She immediately had further surgery to remove the rest of the cancer. Everything went well and after a short recovery she was back working at the private security company she owns and operates.
But last September on a trip to England she found a small lump directly under the scar left by the first operation. She had a biopsy on her return to New Zealand and the news wasn't good _ the cancer had returned.
"That's when my world fell apart," she says wiping a tear from her cheek.
"The reality is that your chances go way down when you get the second one."
In October she had a tennis ball sized lump of flesh removed from her leg and the lymph nodes removed from her left groin. Two perfectly rectangular patches were also removed from her thighs so skin grafts could be made to repair her leg.
Today she is in Hamilton for further tests which will give her and doctors a more definitive idea of what her situation is and whether or not the cancer has spread to other organs in her body.
The tests will determine further treatment and could mean more operations, including a high risk procedure where her leg is sealed off at the groin and pumped full of radiation.
She says she is positive about her situation and physically feels fine _ no different than normal. She says everyone including the staff at her work have been amazingly supportive.
Mentally, things have taken a toll and news the cancer had come back hit not only herself but everyone close to her very hard.
"The grief it causes to your family, my mum, everyone, it's terrible," she says.
Now she just wants to let people know, especially young people, that risking a day in the sun without wearing any protection _ all for the sake of a sun tan _ is simply not worth it.
"I used to think the same way as everyone else but people have to realise it can destroy you," she says.