Despite the absence of dangerous moles, MUM was shocked when she was diagnosed with incurable skin cancer.
44-year-old Melissa Young, who saw no change in her skin , was told by her doctors that she had the most deadly advanced form of skin cancer. It wasn't until I got it.
When Melissa, a mother of two, contracted coronavirus in September 2021, she only encounteredsymptoms.
Melissa, who was suffering from high fever and sweating, had a lump in her armpit.
She went to see her doctor. My family doctor ordered a mammogram and scan to look for breast cancer.
Melissa was told in December that she had stage 3 melanoma.
The disease had spread to her lymph nodes, and the tumor in her arm was between two of her arteries, so surgery was not possible.
"I didn't have any moles or skin problems, so I was shocked when I got the diagnosis," Melissa, from Kirkcody, Fife, Scotland, told the Daily Record.
"I found a lump in my armpit when I had the new coronavirus, but I don't know how long it lasted.
``If I hadn't had the coronavirus, . It's the most common sign.
And the risk factors for this disease are many moles and frecklesand fair skin.
Cancer Research UK states:
"One study found that people with 100 or more moles had a higher risk of melanoma than those with fewer than 15 moles."
}However, people without moles and darker skin are not without risk.
Melissa warns others about using sunbeds, and she admits that she uses them twice a week during the summer.
She said: "Doctors weren't sure how it developed, but I used to use a sunbed twice a week in the summer. Now I can't touch it."
``Use a fake tan. 49} You may have skin cancer but you have no normal symptoms at all.It's really scary.
"The dermatologist actually sees no skin damage. said. So I had no symptoms, no skin damage, and ended up with skin cancer. ''
Melissa is currently receiving life-prolonging immunotherapy once a month.
She spends her time. Making memories of her with her husband Peter, 41, her son Kurt, 28, and her 10-year-old daughter Ellie.
Kurt takes on her October Three Peaks her challenge and raises money so her family can make Melissa's dream come true. He goes on safari in Africa and takes Ellie to Disneyland.
He wrote on GoFundMe:
"They couldn't tell us how long my mother would live with this treatment. We can."
Melanoma Diagnosed 16,000 times a year, it is the most serious type that tends to spread throughout the body.
It kills 2,340 people annually.
Nonmelanoma skin cancer is , there are 147,000 diagnoses per year in the UK and about 720 deaths per year in the UK.
