Melanoma Charity Stream with P1KAPEACH

Melanoma Charity Stream with P1KAPEACH Supports the Mole Mobile!

A Tiny Mole, a Lifesaving Check  

I'm a 75-year-old woman who is in good health and leads an active lifestyle.  

It was a busy morning for me in early June and as I was driving, I heard an announcement on the local radio station about a travelling mole clinic in a shopping centre near to where I was.  I thought, I'm too busy to stop but something kept telling me that this was an important health check-up that I needed to attend. 

So, I stopped and put my name on the call list as the wait for the doctor was about 2 hours.  When I arrived back to see the doctor she informed me that because it was a busy day, they were not doing full body scans but just upper torso, face and arms.  She checked me over and I asked her to look at a mole that I had concerns about on my left leg. She checked and gave me the OK for that mole however just before leaving she looked at my right leg and said that I had a mole there that looked suspicious. This mole was smaller than the tip of my little finger and certainly did not look to be a problem.  She said I should get it checked out. 

I phoned my family doctor and got an appointment to see him within the week.  He did a scrape biopsy and when the results came back in 10 days it was positive for melanoma.  I was referred to a dermatologist and that appointment was the following week. The dermatologist removed the mole and thankfully the cancer had not spread it was confirmed Melanoma in situ (stage 0). I am now followed every six months for mole checks. 

The mole she diagnosed as being melanoma was not large nor was it in any way suspicious to me.  Had I not gone to that clinic I don't know when I would have been diagnosed, and the results would have been much worse.  I urge everyone to get their moles checked! 

 Fay