Published Jun 25, 2026

38-Year-Old Woman Thought She Had a ‘Bug Bite’—It Turned Out to Be Melanoma, and Surgery Gave Her ‘A Second Chance at Life’

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Understanding Melanoma

Laura May McMullan was diagnosed with melanoma at 38 after finding a “bug bite”-like spot on her thigh. She underwent surgery and developed lymphedema, a condition in which extra lymph fluid builds up in tissues and causes swelling. Now she’s using her experience to raise awareness about sun safety and early detection.
Mohs surgery is a microscopically-controlled surgery where surgeons remove thin layers of skin tissue until they reach clear tissue without cancer.
Melanoma is considered one of the most dangerous forms of skin cancer because of its ability to spread to other parts of the body. It starts in the cells that give your skin, hair, and eyes their color. The cells change, which allows them to spread to other organs.
“Patients at risk are patients who are fair-skinned, with blond hair and blue eyes, patients who may have a family history of melanoma, or patients who have what we call dysplastic nevus syndrome, who are just covered in thousands and thousands of moles,” Medical oncologist, Dr. Anna Pavlick, says.
Stanford dermatologist Dr. Sumaira Aasi explains that Mohs surgery removes very thin layers of tissue and examines them in real time, allowing surgeons to precisely map where cancer cells remain and take only the smallest additional margins needed until the tumor is fully cleared.
“The Mohs surgeon will take a conservative cut circumferentially around the cancer, where we’re able to preserve healthy tissue,” Dr. Aasi says.

Journalist and mom of one Laura May McMullan was just 38 years old when a red spot on the back of her thigh—one she initially mistook for a bug bite—turned out to be melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

Now, 12 years later, McMullan is using her story to raise awareness about sun safety and urge others not to overlook potential warning signs of skin cancer.

Following successful surgery, McMullan feels as if she’s been “given a second chance.”

“Thankfully in June 2014, I was told no more melanoma was found. The major surgery had worked and I could get back to living my life,” McMullan writes, sharing her story with the U.K’s public broadcaster BBC.

“That was 12 years ago and, although it’s taken a lot of strength, scans and becoming a mom, I try to live my life to the fullest because I’ve been given a second chance.”

The surgery McMullan is referring to is called Mohs surgery—a microscopically-controlled surgery where thin layers of tissue (typically, skin cancer tissue) are removed until the surgeon reaches clear tissue.

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After discovering the red mark on the back of her right thigh, McMullan waited three months before having it examined, admitting she wasn’t someone who regularly visited doctors.

“From the very beginning, I was told it was an insect bite that got infected but, to be on the safe side, I was referred to a dermatologist who took a biopsy and I thought nothing more of it. I was also the kind of girl, admittedly, who liked to be tanned because it gave me a boost,” she explains.

McMullan ultimately was contacted by her doctor in January 2014, informing her that a biopsy taken of the red mark was melanoma.

Since the melanoma was measured at 1.5 millimeters deep, McMullan underwent additional surgery to remove more tissue around the area and chose to have a sentinel lymph node biopsy, checking to see if the cancer had spread to the first lymph node where it’s most likely to travel.

The finding of melanoma in her lymph node led to another operation to remove and evaluate additional nodes, including pelvic lymph nodes.

She was discharged with a drain in her leg and later developed lymphedema in the right leg.

Lymphedema is a condition in which extra lymph fluid builds up in tissues and causes swelling, usually in the arm and hand. There is no cure but it’s important that patients recognize the signs and get treatment as early as possible.

Understanding and Treating Lymphedema

“I look back now and find it hard to believe I was so ignorant about the dangers of ultraviolet (UV) rays,” McMullan writes. “I did also use sunbeds as a teenager and in my early 20s but, up until I was diagnosed at 38 years old, I went on foreign holidays many times a year and now realize the damage I was doing.”

Further noting how she’s now “extremely aware” of how fast the sun can damage one’s skin, she added, “What I have come to learn is that burning changes the DNA of your skin. If a child burns just twice before the age of 18, then abnormal cells have been implanted. The more a person then burns, the greater the risk of skin cancer.”

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McMullan advises putting sunscreen on 20 minutes before sun exposure, sharing how she uses SPF 50 and applies it all over her body, even under her clothing.

“I take a hat and sometimes an umbrella if I go somewhere new, in case there are no shaded areas, and I always choose the shade wherever possible,” she adds.

“It is tempting to think ‘it won’t happen to me.’ It did happen to me and I would not wish the trauma on anyone. I would urge everyone to take small steps for prevention, instead of having to deal with the huge steps of battling for your life.”

Learning More About Melanoma

Melanoma is the most dangerous form of skin cancer. It starts in the same cells that give your skin, hair, and eyes their color. In melanoma, the cells change in a way that allows them to spread to other organs.

Changes to a mole you’ve had for a while or a new growth on your skin could be signs of melanoma, according to SurvivorNet’s experts. You’ll want to watch them and tell your doctor about any changes you notice.

WATCH: How do you perform a skin check using the ABCDEs?

You’re most likely to find melanoma on sun-exposed skin areas like your face, neck, arms, and legs. Surprisingly, you might also find them in other places as well, like:

The palms of your hands or soles of your feet
On your eyes or mouth
Under your nails

SurvivorNet experts recommend avoiding unprotected sun exposure because ultraviolet (UV) radiation can lead to melanoma. Tanning beds pose ultraviolet radiation risks for skin cancer and should be avoided. Many dermatologists recommend using spray tans to reduce the risk of melanoma skin cancer.

What Are the Symptoms of Melanoma?

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.

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.

Melanoma Treatment Options

Melanoma treatment has come a long way. Survival rates have risen dramatically, thanks to a “treatment revolution,” say SurvivorNet’s experts. With breakthrough treatments like targeted therapy and immunotherapy now available, people who are diagnosed today have a much better chance of living a long and healthy life than ever before.

If you’re diagnosed with melanoma, there’s a good chance surgery is going to be the treatment your doctor recommends. In the early stages of the disease, removing the cancer should lead to a cure. The question is typically not whether you’ll get surgery, but which kind you’ll have.

WATCH: Dermatologic Surgeon Dr. Nima Gharavi, On The “Gold Standard Treatment” For Melanoma

For an early-stage melanoma that is close to the skin surface, Mohs surgery might be an option. This technique removes skin cancer, layer by layer, until all the cancer is gone.

“What is being done is that you’re able to remove a very conservative margin around the cancer and study it in, essentially, real time,” explains Dr. Sumaira Aasi, a professor of dermatology and Director of Mohs and Dermatologic Surgery at Stanford.

“The Mohs surgeon will take a conservative cut circumferentially around the cancer, where we’re able to preserve healthy tissue. We’re able to process the tissue and look at the cancerous tissue and know where there are still tumor cells persisting. As the Mohs surgeon removes the cancer, it’s mapped out.”

Dr. Aasi adds that the surgeon may go back specifically to the areas where the cancer cells were present and take out another conservative margin or amount of cancerous tissue and repeat the process until the cancer is out completely.

In general, stage I melanoma surgery consists of the 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.

The removal of stage II and III melanomas 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 possibly to other organs. Where the cancer is will dictate your treatment.

After surgery, the removed tissue and lymph nodes will go to a specialist called a pathologist, who will measure the melanoma and find out if it has clear margins. Having clear margins means the cells around the area of tissue that was removed don’t contain any melanoma. When there aren’t any cancer cells left around the removed area, your cancer is less likely to come back.

Once your cancer spreads, treatment gets a little more complicated, but there are still ways to stop it. New treatments have vastly improved the outlook for people with metastatic, or stage IV, melanoma.

Targeted drugs and immunotherapy have been shown to be more effective than chemotherapy. So, with many more choices, there is no standard treatment. Treatment will vary based on your condition and whether there is recurrent disease.

Research has found that immunotherapy drugs such as Keytruda (pembrolizumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab) helped some people live longer. Combining immunotherapy drugs Yervoy (ipilimumab) and Opdivo (nivolumab) has also extended survival. Opdivo (nivolumab) + relatlimab is a new therapy option added to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines in 2022. The combination of two immunotherapies is called Opdualag.

For those with the BRAF mutation, targeted drugs which shrink or slow the tumor can be a good option. This could include a combination of drugs, such as:

Zelboraf (vemurafenib) and Cotellic (cobimetinib)
Braftovi (encorafenib) and Mektovi (binimetinib)
Tafinlar (dabrafenib) and Mekinist (trametinib)
Zelboraf (vemurafenib) and Cotellic (cobimetinib) can also be combined with atezolizumab.

“Every patient is different and every situation is different,” says Dr. Anna Pavlick, medical oncologist at Weill Cornell Medicine. She emphasized that “there is no cookie-cutter recipe,” for treating stage IV melanoma.

There Is No “Cookie Cutter Recipe” for Treating Stage Four Melanoma

Dr. Pavlick also notes the importance of personalized care and treatment. “It really is a matter of looking at the tools we have so that we can pick the right tools to give the patient the best outcome.”

So, while there is no one-size-fits-all approach to treating metastatic melanoma, your doctor will work with you to develop a treatment plan that is tailored to your individual situation. Advances in research and technology are making the fight against metastatic melanoma more hopeful than ever.

What is Lymphedema?

Lymphedema, or chronic swelling, can occur after surgery and radiation treatment for breast cancer. It occurs when the lymph vessels that carry fluid throughout the body are affected and cannot properly dispose of the fluid. This causes fluid build-up and swelling, usually in the arm and hand on the same side as the treated breast.

Doctors cannot predict which patients will develop the condition but women who have many lymph nodes removed and/or radiation therapy have a higher risk of long-term lymphedema. Lymphedema can happen shortly after treatment or even years later.

Dr. Dung Nguyen explains what lymphedema is and how doctors monitor the condition.

“Lymphedema is a disorder in which the lymph fluid which is basically interstitial fluid that leaks out from our tissue continuously cannot recirculate properly and stays stagnant in the tissue. It’s critical that you monitor for swelling since detecting lymphedema early is key,” Dr. Dung Nguyen, the director of breast reconstruction at Stanford Medicine told SurvivorNet in a previous interview on the condition. “It’s uncomfortable and can be painful and there is no cure but there are a number of ways to treat it.”

Lymphedema can become a problem after surgery or radiation treatment for nearly any type of cancer, but it’s most commonly seen in breast cancer, prostate cancer, pelvic area cancers, lymphoma, melanoma and head and neck cancers like throat cancer.

According to the National Cancer Institute, lymphedema occurs when the lymph system is damaged or blocked. Fluid builds up in soft body tissues and causes swelling.

Lymphedema usually affects an arm or leg, but it can also affect other parts of the body. The disease can also cause long-term physical, psychological, and social problems for patients.

How is Lymphedema Treated?

There are four stages of lymphedema (stage 0 through 3), with treatment options ranging from compression garments, physiotherapy (which helps restore movement and function when someone is affected by illness or injury) and exercise to different surgery methods including lymph node transfer and a technique called lymphovenous bypass (a surgical treatment option for lymphedema).

“We have surgical options as well as non-surgical options that help to control the progression of the disease,” Dr. Nguyen said. “When a patient presents with stage 0, [we] typically would start out with conservative therapy, which would include physiotherapy, compression garments. Patient who presents with stage 1 lymphedema are surgical candidates.”

Dr. Nguyen explains the treatment options for different stages of lymphedema

Usually when patient presents with stage two lymphedema, this is more advanced disease where they tend to have recurrent infections. “In these group of patients, vascularized lymph node transfer is the option of choice. And that is because with lymph node transfer, the lymph nodes themselves will bring lymphatic tissue to the extremity and helps fight infection. So the risks and the rate of infection significantly decreases with lymph node transfer.”

In patients with stage 3 lymphedema, “the first approach is to do de-bulk the dense fiber fatty tissue that has built up. And we do this using a technique called dry liposuction, where the tissue is extracted from the extremity using suction device,” Dr. Nguyen explained.

Once the patient has recovered from the surgery, which can typically at least a year, “then that patient can become a candidate for procedures like lymph node transfer or the lymphovenous bypass procedure to help reestablish the lymphatic drainage system in the extremity.”

Leading Experts Urge Us to Be Proactive

“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,” National Cancer Institute Chief of Surgery Steven Rosenberg told us in a previous interview, “because finding a doctor who is up to the latest of information is important.”

As we highlight in several areas of SurvivorNet, highly respected doctors sometimes disagree on the right course of treatment, and advances in genetics and immunotherapy are creating new options. Also, in some instances the specific course of treatment is not clear cut. That’s even more reason why understanding the potential approaches to your disease is crucial.

At the National Cancer Institute, there is a patient referral service that will “guide patients to the right group depending on their disease state so that they can gain access to these new experimental treatments,” Rosenberg says.

Cancer Research Legend Urges Patients to Get Multiple Opinions

Furthermore, getting another opinion may also help you avoid doctor biases. For example, some surgeons own radiation treatment centers. “So there may be a conflict of interest if you present to a surgeon that is recommending radiation because there is some ownership of that type of facility,” Dr. Jim Hu, director of robotic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet.

Other reasons to get a second opinion include:

To see a doctor who has more experience treating your type of cancer
You have a rare type of cancer
There are several ways to treat your cancer
You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you, or isn’t giving you good advice
You have trouble understanding your doctor
You don’t like the treatment your doctor is recommending, or you’re worried about its possible side effects
Your insurance company wants you to get another medical opinion
Your cancer isn’t improving on your current treatment

Bottom line, being proactive about your health could be a matter of life or death. Learn as much as you can from as many experts as you can, so that you know that you did your best to take control of your health.