Quad-City surgeon: Detecting skin cancer can be ‘matter of life or death’

Ellen Rink, of Rock Island, credits Dr. Benjamin Van Raalte with saving her life. Van Raalte, of Bettendorf, whose practice is Iowa Plastic Surgery in Davenport, knew Rink did not have an ordinary freckle on her face. “She did not know that the growth on her face was melanoma (an advanced form of skin cancer),” Van Raalte says. “She did not even know I was a physician. I didn’t care which doctor treated her, but I knew what I saw could be life-threatening.” Rink remembers the day Van Raalte talked to her about what she thought was just a brown spot on her face.  In 2001, he came in to... Read More