My Story
My melonoma started of as a little lump on the top of my leg, I went to the doctors as I wasn’t sure what it was. It wasn’t a mole or freckle it was just a lump. I went to the doctors and they said it was a bite. I went back a month later as they told me to get in touch if it didn’t go within 4 weeks, when I went back and saw a different doctor they said it was scar tissue and told me to go back again in 4 weeks if it had not gone. My lump kept growing and was itchy when it come into contact with heat. After the 4th time of going to the doctors to be just told it was either a bite or scar tissue I got tired of booking appointments. My mum told me to go back to the doctors 1 last time and little did I know she was saving my life! This time the doctor referred me to dermatology at the hospital as he wasn’t happy with the look of it and wanted me to get it checked out. After having my appointment at dermatology they removed it then and there and did a biopsy. February 21st 2024 at 29 years old, I got diagnosed with stage 2c melanoma which then progressed to stage 3c after my lymph node biopsy came back positive. They had found 2 more tumours in 2 out of 3 lymph nodes that they had removed. I am currently receiving immunotherapy treatment which they have found is the best treatment to prevent the meloma coming back within 5-10 years. I have to have CT and MRI both with contrast via a cannula to make sure nothing else has appeared. Me and mum are doing this event because we want to try to raise as much money as we can so that trials can still be done on treatments and more patients with any type of cancer can be helped. I’ve had an uncle die from cancer and also an auntie that found out she had breast cancer that she would have never known about if she hadn’t have had a mammogram as they explained it was too far back for her to feel herself.
