A mum has issued a warning after doctors told her "not to worry" about a mole she found on her skin.
Michelle Richardson, 49, at first thought the fabric from her bra was irritating her back, but when it started to bleed after scratching she realised it was a mole and went to her GP.
Within two weeks the mum saw a dermatologist who reassured her the mole was nothing to worry about. After seeing the medical specialist the mole grew darker and itchiness persisted, MirrorOnline reports.
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She said: "He [the dermatologist] said it is probably just your bra strap rubbing, I don't think it's melanoma, see you in three months. When I went back to see him, I asked for a biopsy which he did that day.
"He was very reassuring and said 'don't worry, I'll give you a call as the results come back. If anything is concerning we will bring you in, but I'm absolutely sure it's not'."
When she returned in February 2018, they were joined by the oncology nurse. They had found a thin layer of skin cancer, at stage 1B, which was removed.
Michelle said: "I knew at the time something was wrong and I just went numb. I just wanted facts. I knew nothing about melanoma.
"But he was really reassuring, saying it was really thin, we've taken it out and the wider tissue removed around it. It was caught early and he's not worried about it."
Scans showed that the cancer hadn't spread and that Michelle was all clear. However, as she received private healthcare through her husband's medical insurance, Michelle insisted she had a lymph node surgery too just in case.
It was here they came across a tiny microscopic deposit of cancer – a micrometastasis – that wasn't picked up on a scan due to its size, which set her at stage three Melanoma.
The micrometastasis was also removed, but with no treatment available at the time, such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy to mop up any other rogue cells, there was nothing else they could do. Michelle had to have CT scans every six months and an ultrasound of her armpits every six months too – which meant she was having a scan every three months as they alternated.
The results were clear each time, until Michelle's health took a turn for the worst in summer 2019. She became bloated and exhausted and found a chickpea-sized lump on her pelvis. The following morning, she checked to see if it was still there, and worryingly three more had appeared – one on her back, her ribs, and her pelvis.
She managed to book an appointment with the dermatologist that afternoon, where she at that point had gained seven lumps.
Michelle said: "It was utterly terrifying. He [the dermatologist] went white when he looked at me. I knew then it was stage four. I knew the outlook was going to be very, very bad.
"That was when utter devastation and complete guilt for my daughter hit me."
Doctors said she had high-grade melanoma, with tumours doubling every two hours. By the Friday, she was hospitalised as a chest x-ray showed tumours had filled both of her lungs, resulting in her not being able to breathe properly.
Five tumours had also taken over her brain.
She said: "I went from working to not being able to walk, sit up and breathe the following Monday. Tumours were wrapped around my kidney, my spleen, in my stomach, my pelvis, my shoulder blades.
"I had lumps everywhere under my skin so all of my chest and stomach and back and face and neck were covered in really painful lumps. It happened in the space of a week."
Luckily, a new life-saving treatment had become licenced in the UK a year earlier – immunotherapy – which suppresses the immune system to attack cancer cells. However, with only a 50 percent success rate, Michelle had to prepare for the worst.
With potentially less than a few months to live, she wrote heartbreaking letters to her husband, parents, and her daughter, and got her Will ready. It was a waiting game to see if the doses of treatment were working, and after four weeks, she showed signs of turning the tide.
And in September 2020, she was told she is in remission, but the fear of her cancer returning any day still hangs over her. Michelle, who still has the odd lump of dead tissue mass on her shoulder blade and abdomen, copes by focusing on the now and keeping busy with her family.
This Melanoma Awareness Month, and as we approach the summer in Britain, Michelle is begging the nation to wear SPF. The mum admitted that while she was careful to apply SPF when abroad, she often forgot about it when basking in the sun at home.
She said: "The skin is the largest organ, it goes everywhere. It’s the fastest growing cancer in young people and because it is in the skin, it will go everywhere. It kills and it's utterly devastating.
"With any other cancer, if they said you could put a cream on your skin to prevent it, you’d do it without question but people aren't with melanoma. It's just not worth it for a tan."
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