- Must-see: Mad dad slams Common Core with hilarious check to school
- Woman jumps from moving car after seeing spider, causing wreck, police say
- Child's left-handed writing allegedly called 'evil' by teacher
- Dad & kids reel in 483-lb. shark off Cape Cod
- Heads up, travelers! 'Passport crisis' could delay your plans
Elise Hilton was only 21 when she was diagnosed with cancer.
"I had a lump on my head, and I thought that it was maybe a birthmark or mole," she told WKBW. "When the doctor told me I had melanoma, I didn't even know what that was."
By the time she was diagnosed, Hilton was already in a progressed stage 3. After many surgeries and treatments, the cancer continued to spread. She was told she had six to eight months to live.
"It's hard to see the end coming," Elise said. "You can't change a thing about it."
Cancer doesn’t run in Hilton’s family. She says cancer she got it because she never wore sunscreen outside while tanning.
"I never would have gone tanning or tanned knowing that this would happen to me," she told WKBW.
Earlier this year, Elise delivered a special message to television viewers in Buffalo, New York.
“I know what it’s like to be in middle school and high school. They pick on you. To have cancer just because I thought tanning was cool. It’s not worth it. I’m going to lose my family, my fiance. It’s not worth it,” she said.
Her hope was to warn other young girls.
"Skin cancer is not cool," she said. "It's taking my life. It's not pretty."
Hilton married her fiancé, James Schunk, in May.
"My fiance said he will always stand by my side no matter what," she said.
Hilton died of skin cancer Thursday.
About the Author
