Michelle has a warning for sun-loving Brits
A mum who was told not to worry by doctors has spoken of her journey after a small mole changed her life.
When she returned in February 2018, they were joined by the oncology nurse. They had found a thin layer of skin cancer, at stage 1B, which was removed. It was here that they came across a tiny microscopic deposit of cancer - a micrometastasis - that wasn't picked up on a scan due to its size, which set her at stage three Melanoma.
"I was sobbing with so much pent-up fear and anxiety," she said. "I kept thinking 'What are they going to find on the scan?' I was thinking about it every single day and it was getting me down." She managed to book an appointment with the dermatologist that afternoon, where she at that point had gained seven lumps."He [the dermatologist] went white when he looked at me. I knew then it was stage four. I knew the outlook was going to be very, very bad.Doctors said she had high-grade melanoma, with tumours doubling every two hours.
Luckily, a new life-saving treatment had become licenced in the UK a year earlier - immunotherapy - which suppresses the immune system to attack cancer cells."I was prepared to die," she confesses. "My daughter had just started year six and went from having an active mum to me not being able to get out of bed.
She's been receiving the brutal treatment every month for two years, and while she is eternally grateful, it has knock-on effects. Michelle, who still has the odd lump of dead tissue mass on her shoulder blade and abdomen, copes by focusing on the now and keeping busy with her family.
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