My Skin Cancer Story💔 I am sharing this with you all to raise awareness for Malignant Melanoma, if this post helps one person then at least one good thing would have come from this.

In December 2020 I contacted my GP with some concerns to a new mole which had appeared and an existing mole that had become itchy over time. Due to COVID-19 I was unable to be seen therefore my moles were examined via photos sent on email. The GP confirmed they were ok but I needed to keep an eye on them. I felt really uneasy about this advice as I didn't think moles could be diagnosed over the phone but I decided to listen to the GPs advice at the time as you do.. 3 months passed and covid restrictions eased and I still felt really uneasy about my moles, the itching had gotten worse so I decided to reach out to my GP again and insisted I am seen.

The GP brought me in took a look at my two moles and referred me to dermatology at Kingston hospital. On the 30th March I saw a dermatologist who advised me being extremely fair skinned, naturally ginger and having moles on my skin she stressed the importance of checking my moles regularly and I had done the right thing by going to the GP. She told me I would need one mole removed to avoid the risk of Melanoma (Skin Cancer). A few weeks before my mole removal I noticed there was only one mole scheduled to be removed, I called the dermatologist to request that the mole I was most concerned about needed to be removed too.. this mole was itchy and burned in the evening especially after a shower. This particular mole was also thankfully removed after my request (more to come from this at the later stage)

On April 22nd I had minor surgery to remove my moles and was sent on my way to recover whist the moles were sent off for a biopsy, 5 weeks later I received a phone call from the hospital asking me to come in for my results but to bring someone with me, I thought oh god surely not a good sign... I anxiously waited overnight and the following morning I got the results I had been dreading Stage 1 Melanoma, Skin Cancer.

At 29 years old those words are not what you want to hear and automatically fear the worst, to be honest it was a bit of a blur and felt almost like an surreal experience when she was explaining the diagnosis. However upon my biopsy they managed to remove both Melanoma tumours on the first surgery but that was not the end of it. I was referred to St Georges Hospital as they have a specialist unit there for skin cancer, I needed to have more skin removed where my moles were to ensure there was no more cancerous cells left. One of my moles was boarder line Stage 1B Melanoma this was the mole I requested to be removed. If I hadn't of listened to my body and asked the dermatologist to remove this mole as well as the other I would have had melanoma growing deeper into my body potentially spreading if it was not caught early. As this mole could be a potential problem in the future the doctor recommended that I have a Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy from my groin to check that the cancer had not spread to my lymph nodes to eliminate the possibility of the cancer spreading to other parts of my body.

On the 1st July I underwent a general anaesthetic to have a wider excision in the areas were the melanoma was present and a sentinel lymph node biopsy. A sentinel lymph node biopsy is a procedure in which the sentinel lymph node is identified by injecting a nuclear dye into the existing scar and then injecting blue ink into the body once asleep once the lymph nodes have been detected they are then removed and examined to determine whether cancer cells are present. This was an extremely tiring day and the recovery was very hard and very painful, doing the smallest task were difficult for the first week or so, this was by far the toughest part of the journey.

4 weeks later I got my results back, there was no cancer found in my lymph nodes or from my excision of my Melanoma scars.

This post is not for me to frighten you or to pressure you to change your views on UV lights and excessive sun exposure but it is just to get some awareness out there to and to stress the importance of protecting your skin at all costs. It does not matter what type of skin you have, anyone can develop skin cancer. Your skin is so delicate and the too much sun or UV exposure is really bad for you, a few bad choices by damaging your skin can jeopardise your chances of a healthy future if you are unfortunate enough to get skin cancer and not catch it early.

For the majority of my life I have always protected myself in the sun because of my fair skin but you know you always think "oh it will never happen to me," thats just someone else's story but it did happen to me and thankfully I was able to tell my story as I found the Melanoma early.

I will now be monitored every 3 months for 5 years as I have a high risk of melanoma developing again. Its not always going to be someone elses story or something you read on instagram. Unfortunately cancer does not discriminate!

GET YOUR MOLES CHECKED REGULARLY AND LISTEN TO YOUR BODY IF YOU NOTICE ANY CHANGES.

Skin cancer is not just skin cancer, it is a highly dangerous disease to have as it can spread quickly if not found early, so please do not leave these things if you are worried. Its been a tough few months but I remained positive and got through the other end. I am so grateful for all the doctors and nurses who took care of me throughout all of this...our amazing NHS!

We are so lucky to have access to this wonderful service 🤍🌈🤍 Thank you for reading x

As told by Aimee Jordan