Joel D.

Joel is a competitive tennis player and sports writer who covers tournaments in some of the world’s sunniest places. But his first awareness of the sun’s dangers came from an unlikely source.

What’s your sun story?

The very first time we walked to lunch together, my wife Joan asked, "Would you mind if we walked on the shady side? I'm allergic to the sun." Joan had been diagnosed with Lupus a year before we met. I’d never even heard of Lupus before. It’s a significant autoimmune disease that makes people much more sensitive to the damage from UV radiation. So being with someone quite attuned to the impact of sunlight and UV rays was very edifying for me. I’m a tennis player, and part of a whole generation who grew up indifferent to the sun and sunscreen.

I’m on the tennis court nearly every day where I live in Northern California and I attend a tennis fantasy camp in Texas every year. I travel to Australia to cover tournaments -- I’ve been there nearly a dozen times, often for weeks at a time.

How did you learn you had skin cancer?

Dr. Krasnoff found two cancerous spots during a routine checkup and removed them then and there.

How has it changed you?

I have my skin checked twice a year and I’m healthy now. I always have a tube of sunscreen in my pocket and I wear long sleeves, even when I’m playing in the Texas heat. It’s been okay, especially in the Dri-FIT shirts that Dr. Jen recommends. I was a little sad when I realized I lost my tan lines on my arms but that’s life in the fast lane