4 days ago
The 'freckle' that ended up being terminal skin cancer...doctors say I could have months to live
A mother has been given a terminal skin cancer diagnosis after she was dismissed by doctors who said she had a holiday bug.
As a precaution, Katie Cooper, 32, from Greater Manchester, had a small freckle removed from a patch of skin behind her ear around seven years ago.
But around four years later, she noticed a small lump had formed in the same place.
Subsequent tests revealed it was melanoma—the deadliest type of skin cancer that is on the rise in young Britons.
The prognosis for the condition is good, with most patients cured, providing the disease is caught early.
Doctors immediately removed Ms Cooper's growth and told her she was cancer free.
But the ordeal didn't end there for the civil servant and her family.
In March this year, nearly seven years after she noticed the freckle, she developed bizarre aches and pains.
But having just returned from a trip to Disneyland Paris, doctors assured her it was most likely 'just a virus' she'd picked up on her travels.
Yet it wasn't long until the mother-of-one found herself bedbound and in 'agony'.
After five weeks, she didn't get any better and her pain persisted, so doctors performed a scan.
They discovered the melanoma had not only returned but aggressively spread throughout her body—reaching her bones, spine, liver, lungs, abdominal wall, and ovaries.
'It's terrifying. We had no idea and we just thought I was unwell. It blindsided us,' said Ms Cooper.
'Finding out subsequently that it was in my other organs as well, I knew it would be quite difficult from here on out.'
At stages three and four—when the disease has spread to nearby tissues and organs or bones—the survival rate is as low as 66 and 27 per cent, respectively.
She is now undergoing grueling radiotherapy and immunotherapy treatment to manage her incurable condition.
Ms Cooper's friend, Abi Smith, said they have been told the prognosis could be as little as a few months if the treatment fails to work.
'If it does work, they may be able to get to a 60 per cent chance of 10 years,' she said.
'She's accepted the cancer, but when she thinks about her three-year-old daughter, Aurora, she gets really upset.
'She's hoping she'll be there for all her milestones.'
The devastated mother has encouraged others to 'advocate for themselves' and to get checked if they're unsure about something.
She added: 'You know your body best. If you feel like something is not right, then you are within your rights to go and ask and don't be afraid to keep pushing to get those answers.'
A GoFundMe has been launched to support the civil servant with medical and living expenses.
It takes a scarily low number of sunburns—only five—to make you vulnerable to the condition that kills more than 2,000 people in the UK every year.
One in 35 men and one in 41 women in the UK will be diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer in their lifetime.
The most harmful type of sunrays are UVB which hit the outer layer of the skin (the epidermis) and cause the most sunburn, as well as UVA rays which penetrate much deeper and contribute to ageing.
Both are ultraviolet, which means they cause skin cancer.
A worrying 90 per cent of skin cancer cases in the UK are a direct result of sunburn and using sunbeds, according to Cancer Research.
