As a teenager, Lisa Pace was insecure about her pale skin. Her mom was always strict about using sunscreen as a kid, but Lisa started going to tanning salons during high school.
By college, tanning had become an every day habit. And the more compliments she received, the deeper into her addiction she fell.
Lisa was diagnosed with her first case of skin cancer in 2000. It was melanoma, the deadliest type of skin cancer. At the time, she actually thought it was something "they would just scrape off of me."
The twenty-something basketball coach was unfazed by the diagnosis, but thankfully she went in for surgery. Within months, Lisa had returned to the tanning beds only to have another bout of skin cancer — on her face.
"It was gut wrenching and heartbreaking," Lisa told TODAY. "This whole time I had been worried about how I looked, and now I have a huge scar on my face."
Finally, Lisa was ready to give up her habit and pay attention to her health. But it was too late to undo the years of damage she had done to her face and body.
Lisa had undergone 50 surgeries by her mid-30s… but her journey towards recovery was far from over.
[H/T: TODAY]
