Dear Alice,

While reading some of the questions in your General Health miscellaneous files, I came across one where the individual asked what to do about a growth (or cyst) she had discovered on the bottom of her foot. The question involv ed something along the lines of whether she should "smash it with a hammer."

Alice, about two years ago, my grandfather had a similar cyst on the heel of his foot. It caused him no pain on its own, but made wearing his shoes fairly uncomfortable. A year later, that innocent looking cyst began to blacken and that's when he decided to have it checked out. That harmless little bump on his foot turned out to be melanoma. My grandfather is now taking chemotherapy.

Basically, I just wanted to inform that student and others that anything that appears out of the ordinary on your body should be checked out by a professional; someone who takes the time to look at, run tests on, and analyse what we might otherwise consid er innocent bumps and benign growths. Never should one risk his or her health with advice based on what the problem "sounds" like because, often times enough, the way we make things sound isn't nearly as serious as they might really be.

--- a concerned kid from Canada