Shockingly little sunbed use that led to 23-year-old's skin cancer that spread to her lungs and neck

Daily Mail​

3 days ago

A woman with late stage skin cancer has warned of the catastrophic dangers of pursuing a 'base tan' before a summer holiday—after just a handful of sunbed sessions left her with incurable disease.
Lily Murphy, 30, from Watford, used sunbeds for the first time in her early twenties, to 'prepare' her skin for an upcoming trip to South East Asia.
She used the tanning devices—known to increase cancer risk by up to 75 per cent— for just 'a couple of minutes here and there', totalling less than an hour over the course of several weeks.
While on holiday, she recalled using sun cream to protect herself from the sun's harmful UV rays, aware that she is 'very fair-skinned and always get burnt'.
Upon her return to the UK, the NHS administrator visited her GP to enquire about a mole that was worrying her.
'The doctor said this doesn't look right, I'm going to refer you on the two-week cancer pathway,' she said.
She had the mole removed and was called back for an appointment two weeks later.
'There were two Macmillan Cancer nurses in there too… that's when they said to me it's come back as melanoma, stage 1B.'
Stage 1B melanoma is one of the earliest stages of the deadliest type of skin cancer.
This stage means it has not yet spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body, and it is generally highly curable.
Ms Murphy recalled being the youngest person in her cancer support group, aged 23 at the time.
'Everyone else was in their 40s, 50s, 60s,' she said. 'It was an experience.'
Doctors performed surgery to cut out the cancer in 2019.
'It felt like such a relief to hear that the cancer hadn't spread,' she said. 'I said to myself, "I've beaten it",' said Lily.
But four years later, in January 2023, she began to feel unwell during a family trip to Gloucestershire.
She was 'constantly tired' and suffering agonising back pain, which eventually migrated to her chest.
'I couldn't breathe. I said to my mum it feels like something's not right,' she said.
Despite repeated trips to A&E, her concerns were dismissed as anxiety, linked to her mental health history.
Eventually, she was booked for scans and blood tests in a different department, which revealed the devastating truth: her cancer was back and had spread to her lungs and neck.
With new treatments, some people are living with stage four melanoma for a long time according to Cancer Research UK.
However, studies suggest that, on average, only half of those with this stage of disease live beyond six years.
Ms Murphy began immunotherapy treatment in April 2023, but struggled to tolerate the doses required.
She then tried two oral chemotherapy treatments but developed a severe allergic reaction within 10 days, including a rash that spread down her throat.
She later developed sepsis, caused by a weakened immune system, and was rushed to hospital.
In February 2025, she began a new treatment that has already shown signs of shrinking her cancer, despite only managing four of the recommended 12 tablets per day.
'I'm taking a break from treatment at the moment, because it's just too much on my body,' Ms Murphy said.
She has now launched a petition, Ban Sun Beds to Protect Against Skin Cancer, which has already gained more than 700 signatures.
'It was just a spur of the moment thing,' she said. 'Sunbeds are a known cancer risk.
'Banning them would save lives—and save the NHS money.'
She has called for a stop to the 'glamourisation' of tanning by social media and influencers.
'Your tan is semi-permanent, but your life should be permanent,' she said.
Last year, rates of deadly melanoma reached a record high in the UK, with new diagnoses increasing by almost a third in just a decade, according to Cancer Research UK.
Now, experts are warning that cases are on the rise again— set to surge faster in men than women.
Michelle Mitchell, CEO at Cancer Research, said: 'The growing number of people diagnosed with melanoma is concerning, especially when we can see that rates are rising faster in men.
'If you notice anything different on your skin, like a new mole, a mole that's changed in size, shape, or colour, or any patch of skin that looks out of the ordinary—don't ignore it, speak to your GP', she added.