I’m Dr. Melanie Bone. I was born in Albany, New York in 1960 and I grew up in the northeast. I graduated from the Phillips Exeter Academy with High Honors and then Magna Cum Laude from Georgetown University with degrees in Russian Language and English Literature. Although I love languages and linguistics my grandfather, my father, my uncles and my brother were all medical doctors. Medicine was in my blood. My only job offer during my senior year of college was to translate a Russian encyclopedia. Luckily I was able to persuade Albany Medical College to accept me without going back for a traditional pre-medical curriculum. Good move! I still dabble in Russian and speak Spanish and Hebrew but my passion is as a caregiver.

Upon graduating from medical school, I moved to Washington DC and completed my residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology at the George Washington University Medical Center. Afterward I remained in DC working both in private practice and as a clinical faculty member for George Washington University Medical School. Teaching is something that comes easily to me and I loved sharing my knowledge with young doctors, nurses, and medical students. To this day I derive great joy from explaining diagnoses and procedures to patients and their families.

In 1991 I moved to West Palm Beach, Florida to work in a group practice. A few months later I met Bill Bone. We married and had four children in three and a half years – no twins, Becky, Carlton, Bailey and Rex were only five, four, three and two years old when I was diagnosed with cancer. Until my diagnosis I worked full time delivering as many a dozen babies a day. Bill and I were adventure travelers and involved in a multitude of community activities. Rest and relaxation were not in my vocabulary.
Cancer changed all that!

August 2000 marked my new “Birthday”. After bilateral mastectomies, reconstructive surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments I was left physically weak but emotionally strong. I returned to work in my own thriving private practice. In order to devote enough time to each patient I work fewer hours and deliver highly personalized care. With my newfound self-confidence I divorced Bill because my needs changed dramatically after my cancer. We continue to parent our children jointly.

Three years after my diagnosis I was reading a journal article about breast cancer and discovered that there is a genetic mutation called the BRAC gene that can cause breast cancer in younger women. My family has no history of cancer with one exception; my father’s first cousin had ovarian cancer. My oncologist felt that testing me for the gene was a long shot but lo and behold I have the BRAC 2 gene mutation. I inherited this from my father. He passed away at age 81 of heart disease, having never manifested any evidence of his gene status. Finding out that this gene is passed down through the father half the time enlightened me. Realizing that each of my children has a 50% chance of having the gene inspired me to begin writing and speaking about cancer in general and hereditary cancer syndromes in particular.

The first step I took was to co-author a book with the Reverend Richard Cromie called, “A Journey Through Cancer”. The book is used by the Presbyterian Church to help parishioners who are newly diagnosed with cancer. Next I started writing a general health column for a woman’s magazine in Florida called Vive. Six years later I decided to focus my writing. I now write a weekly cancer / survivorship column for the Palm Beach Post called “Surviving Life”. Two columns a month answer questions about cancer from people all over the world. My motto is that no question is too small. The other columns vary from discussions about alternative cancer treatments to personal life experiences that relate to my own cancer.

March 2009 marks a new chapter in my life. I married a wonderful man, Eric Rawet, who lost his first wife to colon cancer when she was 44. Together we are launching this venture as well as developing medical inventions while still devoted to our own careers. My own medical practice thrives and I opened a beauty division, Beauty to the Bone. Now that I am nearing 50 but feel much younger and still have four teens and tweens to keep up with I strive to be beautiful and healthy both inside and out.