Dad was ‘eaten alive’ by skin cancer months after doctor dismissed tiny freckle as harmless
WHEN Danielle Robinson's dad John booked an appointment to see a doctor about a mole she immediately felt relieved.
Along with her mum and sister, she had been nagging him to get it looked at after noticing it had become bigger and darker.
But what started out as a harmless freckle turned out to be an aggressive melanoma - the most serious form of skin cancer.
The 54-year-old died within a matter of months of his tumour developing in October 2017 - and spent most of that time fighting for a diagnosis.
Now his wife and two daughters have decided to share their experience to prevent others going through the same ordeal.
It comes after new research revealed one in five skin cancer diagnoses have been missed during the Covid pandemic.
Danielle, 30, from Bury, told The Sun: “I’ve shown pictures of his tumour to friends as a warning of what skin cancer can do.
“This is what they should be putting on the side of sunbeds in tanning salons - just like they do with the images of tarred lungs on cigarette packets.”
Her mum, Nadia Heywood, said: “I had to watch my husband’s cancer physically eating at him from the outside of his body.
“It was shocking - you don’t typically see cancer like this. I wouldn’t want anyone else to go through it.”
John had first been to see a doctor in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in August 2016 after his family nagged him that the “freckle” on his chest looked bigger.
The GP told him it wasn’t anything to be concerned about and took a picture to show colleagues, assuring him if they thought otherwise they would phone him.
But the call never came and so John, a self-employed surveyor, carried on with life as usual.
Around seven months later, in March 2017, he noticed the mole had changed again - it was darker and had grown in size.
John went back to the doctors and this time he was seen by a different GP who described it as looking like a “little blueberry”.
They referred him to see a dermatologist under a two-week cancer referral.
It took almost a month before a letter with an appointment came through but on the day he was due to go to hospital he received a call to say they were overbooked.
Nadia, 56, said: “Every week it was getting bigger and more painful.”
A couple of weeks later, the mole became infected and he went to A&E where doctors sent him away with antibiotics.
The following week, John went to his rescheduled appointment where a nurse took more pictures and told him they’d be in touch the next day - again he heard nothing.
AGONISING
Things took a turn for the worse when a fortnight later, John started feeling seriously unwell.
Nadia called for an ambulance but it took seven hours for him to be seen - and he was subsequently diagnosed with life-threatening sepsis.
It was only after being admitted to hospital that doctors carried out more tests and confirmed the family’s suspicions - the mole was in fact cancer.
Nadia said: “By this point, it was quite round and the size of an egg, with a hole in the middle. He was in a lot of pain.”
Eventually, on May 17, 2017, he was sent for major surgery to remove the tumour - which by now had spread from his chest all the way under his arm.
Nadia and Danielle, as well as John’s other daughter Elecia, 29, were told the operation would take about two or three hours so went to wait in a nearby pub.
But the surgery ended up taking seven hours.
Sadly, just 10 days later, the family were told the cancer was back and this time it was even more aggressive.
Nadia said: “The consultant looked at the huge scarring and said, ‘it’s come back’, to which John said ‘I know’.
“He hadn’t told me, but you could see it.
“It was as if the surgery had annoyed the tumour and it was back with a vengeance this time.
“The doctors told us there was nothing more they could do.”
What is a melanoma and how to spot it?
The most common sign is a new mole or a change in an existing mole.
In most cases, melanomas have an irregular shape and are more than one colour.
The mole may also be larger than normal and can sometimes be itchy or bleed.
Look out for a mole which changes progressively in shape, size and/or colour.
The ABCDE checklist should help you tell the difference between a normal mole and a melanoma:
- Asymmetrical – melanomas have 2 very different halves and are an irregular shape
- Border – melanomas have a notched or ragged border
- Colours – melanomas will be a mix of 2 or more colours
- Diameter – most melanomas are larger than 6mm (1/4 inch) in diameter
- Enlargement or elevation – a mole that changes size over time is more likely to be a melanoma
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John was referred to the Royal Marsden Hospital in London for immunotherapy and the family were hopeful it was working.
“It turned the tumour black - he thought it was ‘killing’ it, so we were hopeful it was going to work - but it didn’t,” Nadia said.
John then went through two lots of chemotherapy - the first one was overnight for 13 hours.
“It didn’t touch him. The tumour was just so big it was taking all the chemo,” Nadia said.
The couple went back to their home in Kent where John rapidly deteriorated.
Nadia said: “The tumour was growing an inch a day and eating him externally. It turned green, but he wouldn’t have any help.”
Danielle added: “He was very stubborn, he refused to admit he was dying.
“It was just hideous to see. We’d go down every weekend as much as we could and you’d be shocked each time.
“When you physically see it, it makes you realise how aggressive cancer is.”
SAYING GOODBYE
Incredibly, in his final days, John mustered the strength to have his parents come and visit him so he could say his goodbyes.
Nadia said: “I don’t know how he managed it.
“They arrived on the Friday night and spent all day Saturday with him but after they left that was when he gave up.
“I said to him, ‘right let’s get you back upstairs’, and he told me to give him a minute. I couldn’t lift him.
“I brought a bed down but I couldn’t get him on it. I said, ‘I’m going to have to call an ambulance’.
“But when the paramedics arrived, they couldn’t get him on their stretcher because his tumour was so big.
“The fire brigade had to come and hoist him in.”
Once they were at the hospital, Nadia called her daughters and told them they needed to come back down to say goodbye.
She had managed to get him moved to a hospice, where he passed away about an hour-and-a-half after they reached his bedside.
Before his death, John and Nadia instructed a solicitor to investigate a claim against his GP for failing to refer him to hospital after his first appointment in August 2016.
Proceedings were issued against the GP, who defended that at this point the cancer would have been stage 3 and John would have survived a further three to nine years, even with earlier diagnosis.
However, experts acting for the Heywoods felt that the cancer would have been stage 2a and there would have only been a very small shortening of his life with competent treatment.
The GP refused to apologise or admit liability, but confirmed via a lawyer they had learned from the event.
DYING FOR A TAN
There are an estimated 7,000 tanning salons in Britain, with some offering sessions from as little as 50p a minute.
Kids as young as EIGHT are using sunbeds, with seemingly little understanding they are playing Russian Roulette with their health.
According to Cancer Research UK, Melanoma skin cancer risk is 16-25 per cent higher in people who have used a sunbed (at any age), compared to people who have never used sunbeds.
This is because sunbeds pelt the skin with such strong UV rays which increase the risk of developing malignant melanoma - the most serious form of skin cancer.
Just 20 minutes on one is comparable to four hours in the sun – with many stronger than Mediterranean rays at midday.
In many cases the damage is invisible until it’s too late, as it can take up to 20 years to become apparent.
Around 16,000 new melanoma skin cancer cases are diagnosed in the UK every year - that's 44 every day.
There are around 2,300 melanoma skin cancer deaths annually - that's more than six every day.
It’s part of the reason the World Health Organisation has deemed sunbeds are as dangerous as smoking.
This is why Fabulous says it is time to stop Dying For A Tan
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Nadia was given a six-figure settlement to compensate for the loss of her husband.
Mark Bowman from Fieldfisher, who represented John's family in their claim, said: "The NHS two-week cancer pathway only works if GPs correctly diagnose a patient at the first hurdle.
“If they fail to react, the consequences, as in John's case, can be tragic.
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“It's deeply distressing for John's family to know that had his GP assessed him correctly and immediately referred him for treatment, he would probably still be alive."