Woman uses power of social media to warn against dangers of tanning

Attempting to rewrite the wrongs she made in her younger years, one woman is taking to social media to warn about the dangers of recreational tanning.

A victim of skin cancer and an advocate for awareness, Judy Cloud recently uploaded an extensive Facebook post detailing the extremes to which endless hours in the sun affected her.

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"This is the result of using tanning beds when I was younger," she said. "This is the result of having numerous sunburns as a child and teen, and not being religious about applying sunscreen, and staying out in the sun far too long as a teen and into my 20's and even early 30's."

The mother of two has had four surgeries in total, the most recent in September of last year. During that three-hour procedure, she was put under general anesthesia while doctor's removed 23 cancerous areas from her body.

While the surgery itself sounds like a traumatic experience, the road to recovery she details paints itself as even more hellish. "I had to take two weeks off work because I was to spend the two weeks following surgery immobile, lying on a couch during the day with my legs elevated and lying in bed at night with my legs elevated," she said.

"I worried about blood clots and I worried about getting pneumonia, both of which could happen post-surgery with immobility. I couldn't take a real shower for two weeks because my lower legs were wrapped and I couldn't get the wraps wet."

That's not even the worst of it. On top of the initial recovery she faced post-op, she has also experienced loss of feeling in her face due to damaged nerves during surgery -- a loss which her doctors fear may be permanent.

Cloud hopes her story, along with collection of images documenting her road to recovery will help people make smarter choices when it comes to protecting themselves from harmful UV rays.

See the powerful images below:

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