THE MELANOCYTE STORY
An estimated 68,720 people will
be diagnosed with melanoma this
year in the U.S., and about 8,650
will die of the disease. Melanomas
arise from melanocytes, cells
located in the bottom layer of
the skin’s epidermis that are
responsible for making pigment.
Melanocytes also are found in
mucosal areas, such as the eyes,
vulva, anorectal area, and the
inside of the nose, and melanomas
can develop in these areas as
well. Marley was diagnosed with
an acral lentiginous melanoma;
these develop in hairless areas,
such as the palms of the hand,
soles of the feet, and nailbed. It is
widely believed that this type of
melanoma is most likely to develop
in blacks and Asians, but studies
have shown that they actually
occur at about the same rate
across races.
It isn’t surprising that Marley
might have mistaken his
melanoma for a simple sore. In
the 1970s, there was significantly
less awareness about skin cancer
than there is today. And even now,
says Vernon K. Sondak, a surgical
oncologist who specializes in
melanoma at the H. Lee Moffitt
Cancer Center and Research
Institute in Tampa, Fla., “Most
people still don’t think of dark-skinned people as being at risk
for skin cancer, and probably even
fewer think that a melanoma might
occur under a toenail.”
“Still to this day,” he adds, “we
have a hard time getting an early
diagnosis when it’s a non-classic
melanoma, meaning that it is in an
unusual location, has an unusual
presentation, or is in an unusual
patient.”
CR | Page No. 32 | Summer 2009
RASTAFARIAN BELIEFS
Marley’s doctor told him the
best course of treatment would
involve amputation of his toe, and
possibly his foot. “Bob wouldn’t
go for that,” says Garry Steckles,
the author of the biography
Bob Marley: A Life. “Part of the
Rastafarian religion is that you
don’t have parts of your body
amputated.”
Marley flew to Miami, where
his mother was living, and sought
a second opinion at Cedars of
Lebanon (now the University
of Miami Hospital). There, says
Steckles, doctors removed some
of the flesh from the melanoma
and replaced it with a skin graft
from his thigh. At the time, Marley
was living with his girlfriend, Cindy
Breakspeare. (A year earlier, she
had been crowned Miss World; a
year later, she would give birth to
their son, Damian.)
By all accounts, says Steckles,
Marley seemed to be doing well,
and the band went back on the
road. Watching Marley perform
before the legions of fans who
pressed themselves into crowded
arenas, it was easy to believe that
he had been cured. But, in reality,
the cancer cells were still pumping
away in his lymphatic system. He
began having horrible headaches.
And then, one day, while jogging
with friends in Central Park, during
the Wailers’ 1980 Uprising tour,
Marley collapsed. The cancer had
metastasized to his brain.
Given that news, some might
have withdrawn from public view.
Marley took to the stage, until he
no longer could, performing his
last concert on Sept. 23, 1980, at
the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh.
By then, the cancer had spread
to his lungs and stomach as well.
