How an Unsuspecting Freckle on the Back Turned Out To Be Life-Changing
- Teisha Ward, from Australia, was just 20 years old when she learned a freckle on her back was stage three melanoma. Now, 25, she’s urging other to be aware of the dangers of the sun and to be proactive when it comes to your health.
- Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that starts in the same cells that give your skin, hair, and eyes their color.
- You’re most likely to find melanoma on sun-exposed skin areas like your face, neck, arms, and legs. However, you might also find them in your feet, eyes, and mouth.
- Ward hopes her experience encourages others to take precautions for early detection. Catching the cancer early and having it treated leads to a high survival rate. Treatments, including targeted therapy and immunotherapy, give diagnosed people a better chance of living a long and healthy life than ever before.
Now, 25, the executive assistant who previously broke her back in a motorbike accident, recounted her skin cancer journey to Daily Mail’s FEMAIL in hopes of spreading awareness of the disease, explaining, “My older sister Georgia noticed I had a small, dark freckle on my back that had risen above the skin. It had become itchy and would bleed when scratched and she encouraged me to get it checked out.”
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Despite her doctor’s concerns, she admitted, it “didn’t hit me how serious it was,” until her dad urged her to go back to the clinic and request more details on how she should move forward.
They were informed the freckle had to be cut out and biopsied, something they were able to do two days later, leading to a shocking diagnosis, which she received by an oncologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.
Her biopsy revealed the cancer had already metastasized [spread] under her skin and need to be removed.
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Looking back on how her motorbike accident led her to relearn how to walk, she realized her dad’s worries about her health were heightened.
She explained to FEMAIL, “When I was diagnosed it was a shocking but I was more hurt for my parents … it was so hard seeing what it did to them emotionally and mentally. Given I had the motorbike accident four years prior, I couldn’t believe we were going to need to spend more time in the hospital because of cancer.”
Additionally, a “lymph node test” showed cancerous cells in her body and she also needed 11 lymph nodes under her arms taken out, a procedure she dubbed “the hardest surgery” because of the recovery period and the inability to move her arms as she wished.
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Helping You Cope With Skin Cancer
- Signs of Skin Cancer Can Show Up On Your Nails, But Don’t Jump to Conclusions Just Yet
- 3 Skin Cancer Myths, Busted: Can One Bad Sun Burn Cause Cancer?
- Examining Your Skin for Melanoma: Remember ABCDE
- The Future of Biomarkers in Melanoma Treatment
- Beating Aggressive Melanoma: An Immunotherapy Success Story
Thankfully, Ward’s cancer was caught early enough that the oral chemotherapy treatment she underwent for 18 months was a success and she’s now cancer free in the summer of 2020.
In an celebratory Instagram post, Ward insisted that the years after beating cancer have ld her to be, “Healthier and happier than ever before.”
Warn, who now has a “new perspective on life” and always wears sunscreen when she’s outside, concluded to FEMAIL, “I feel like this has definitely shaped me into a better person who’s stronger and more empathetic. It just goes to show you have no idea what people are going through.
“If you looked at me when I was sick you wouldn’t necessarily think I had cancer, but I did.”
In an urgent warning to others who also enjoy taking in UV rays, “Don’t tan in the sun … it’s not worth it. When I was a kid it was cool and attractive to be tanned.
“I think there’s a big lack of education about sun safety too.”
What Increases Your Risk for Melanoma?
Risk factors are things that make you more likely to get cancer. In the case of melanoma, both your genes and things you’re exposed to in your environment can increase your risk, like:
- Being fair-skinned
- Having blond hair and blue eyes
- Having a family history of skin cancer
- Having many moles all over your body
- Being diagnosed with melanoma in the past
- Frequenting indoor tanning salons
Should you worry about melanoma? Oncologist Dr. Anna Pavlick tells SurvivorNet which factors could increase your risk for this cancer.
Having these factors doesn’t mean that you’ll definitely get melanoma. In fact, odds are that you won’t. But they do slightly increase your odds.
And while you can’t control the color of your skin or eyes, or the genes you’ve inherited, you can avoid sunbathing and indoor tanning salons. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun and indoor tanning beds are the leading causes of this cancer.
Also, if you have any of these risks, it’s even more important that you see your dermatologist for regular skin checks, as well as do your own skin checks to look for any new or changing spots.
As for the symptoms of this type of skin cancer, the most important thing to look out for when it comes to finding melanoma is a new spot on your skin, or a spot that is changing in size, shape, or color, SurvivorNet’s medical experts say. The spot will likely also look different from all of the other spots on your skin (doctors call this the “ugly duckling sign”).
When you check your skin, use the acronym ABCDE as your guide:
- Asymmetrical moles: If you drew a line straight down the center of the mole, would the sides match?
- Borders: Is the mole irregular or jagged?
- Colors: Are there multiple distinct colors in the mole?
- Diameter: Is the mole larger than 6 millimeters (mm), about the size of a pencil head eraser?
- Evolution: Has the mole’s color, shape, or size changed over time?
If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, our experts say it’s time to see your dermatologist for a skin check.
Other red flags to watch for are:
- A sore that doesn’t heal
- Color that spreads from the border of a spot to the skin around it
- Redness or swelling that goes beyond the area of a mole
- Itchiness, tenderness, or pain
- A change in the way the surface of a mole looks
- Scaliness, oozing, or blood
Treating Melanoma
With breakthrough treatments like targeted therapy and immunotherapy now available, people diagnosed today with melanoma have a much better chance of living a long and healthy life than ever before.
The American Cancer Society says the five-year survival rate for localized melanoma that has not spread is 99%. The five-year survival rate for melanoma that has spread to other body parts drops to 74% for regional spread and 35% for distant spread.
If you’re diagnosed with melanoma, there’s a good chance surgery will be the treatment your doctor recommends. Cancer removal usually leads to a cure in the early stages of the disease.
Mohs surgery might be an option for an early-stage melanoma close to the skin surface. This technique removes skin cancer, layer by layer until all the cancer is gone.
Stage 1 melanoma surgery consists of simple, in-office removal of the cancerous cells by a dermatologist. If the cancer is thicker, your surgeon will remove it through a technique called wide excision surgery.
Removing Stage Two and Three Melanomas
Stage 2 and stage 3 melanoma surgeries are performed by surgeons or surgical oncologists, not dermatologists. You may also have a sentinel lymph node biopsy to see if the melanoma has spread to the first lymph node where it’s most likely to travel. If your cancer has reached this first lymph node, it may have spread to other neighboring lymph nodes and organs.
RELATED: How Do I Know My Skin Cancer is Gone?
After surgery, the removed tissue and lymph nodes are examined to measure the melanoma and determine if it has clear margins. Clear margins mean the cells around the area of tissue that was removed don’t contain any melanoma. When no cancer cells are left around the removed area, your cancer is less likely to return.
Questions to Ask Your Doctor
If you are diagnosed with skin cancer, you may have some questions for your doctor. SurvivorNet suggests some of the following to help you on your cancer journey.
- What type of skin cancer do I have?
- What treatment options exist for my type of melanoma?
- Will insurance cover this treatment?
- Would treatment through a clinical trial make sense for me?
- What resources exist to help manage my anxiety because of this diagnosis?
The Importance of Advocating for Yourself
Standing up for yourself is important. If you feel that you’re being dismissed or mistreated by a doctor. Getting a second opinion is crucial if something doesn’t feel right. Experts tell SurvivorNet that no one knows your body better than you, so if you feel like something is wrong, keep pushing for answers.
Dr. Zuri Murrell, a colorectal surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, previously told SurvivorNet that sometimes, patients need to be pushy.
Be Pushy, Be Your Own Advocate… Don’t Settle
“From a doctor’s perspective, every problem should have a diagnosis, a treatment, a plan for follow-up, and a plan for what happens next if the treatment doesn’t work,” Dr. Murrell said.
And as a patient, “If you don’t feel like each of these four things has been accomplished, just ask! Even if it requires multiple visits or seeing additional providers for a second opinion, always be your own advocate.”
Ultimately, patients advocating for their health can lead to better patient outcomes. This is especially important when you find your doctor has misdiagnosed your symptoms.
A component of advocating for yourself in healthcare includes going back to the doctor multiple times and even getting multiple opinions.
Dr. Steven Rosenberg is the National Cancer Institute Chief of Surgery, and he previously told SurvivorNet about the advantages of getting input from multiple doctors.
Cancer research legend urges patients to get multiple opinions.
“If I had any advice for you following a cancer diagnosis, it would be, first, to seek out multiple opinions as to the best care. Because finding a doctor who is up to the latest of information is important,” Dr. Rosenberg said.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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