UV WARNING

Mum-of-two who took a 10-session sunbed course before a wedding six years ago is diagnosed with skin cancer that’s spread to her brain – and doctors believe there’s a link

Sarah Brookes, 41, is now speaking out to alert people to the dangers

A MUM-OF-TWO who had a course of sunbeds as a “one-off” to avoid being a “pasty-faced bridesmaid” has revealed how she now has stage four advanced skin cancer.

Always vigilant about sun safety, Sarah Brookes, 41, from Bradford, West Yorkshire, said when she watched her boys, Morgan, 15, and Mason, 12, out playing, she would slather them with sun cream.

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Sarah was a bridesmaid at a friend's wedding, before which she got a sunbed tanCredit: PA Real Life

But when the mentor for young carers was asked to be a bridesmaid for a friend who suggested everyone should have a course of sunbeds to give them a golden glow in the photos of her big day, she agreed.

Married to Autoglass worker Darren, 43, Sarah, who is now campaigning alongside charity Melanoma UK to ban the commercial use of sunbeds, said: “I’d actually always been happy with my pale skin, but I agreed as I didn’t want to upset the bride, who didn’t want pasty-faced bridesmaids.

“I know I could have refused, but it was about five or six years ago and back then, I’d no idea just how dangerous sunbeds could be. Plus because of a number of allergies to different chemicals I have I didn’t want to have a spray tan in case I flared up.

“I’ve never been a sun worshipper – my parents used to jokingly call me a vampire. Doctors cannot say what caused this, but in my mind, if I hadn’t gone on those sunbeds, I wouldn’t be in this position now.”

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Her son Morgan described her bleeding ear as 'minging' - but it was the start of something more sinisterCredit: PA Real Life

Following her 10 three-minute sessions, Sarah forgot all about her sunbed treatments until one day in 2016 when, out-of-the-blue, she was driving along with Morgan when he noticed that the back of her ear was bleeding.

“His exact words were, ‘Mum, that’s minging,’” she said. “We drove straight to the pharmacy, where they said I had an infected spot.

“I was told to keep an eye on it and go straight to the doctor if it got hot. But it didn’t, so I forgot all about it.”

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After that Sarah forgot about the spot again until later that year, when her mum Susan Burness, 68, pointed it out.

Sarah, pictured during radiotherapy treatment for skin cancerCredit: PA Real Life

This time, however, when she consulted her doctor, she was urgently referred to a dermatologist at St Luke’s Hospital in Bradford.

At the start of September 2016, when she went in for her appointment, she was wheeled straight down to theatre to have a mass behind her ear removed and sent off for testing.

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Two weeks later, the results revealed that, tragically, she had stage three malignant melanoma – a type of skin cancer.

“I just remember sitting there reeling, waiting for a cancer nurse to come and tell me what would happen next,” she said. “They told me they’d need to remove part of my ear to check the cancer margins.

“Bizarrely, I remember wondering if I’d still be able to wear earrings. It’s funny the things you think. But I knew that, no matter how it looked afterwards, I had to go ahead with the operation. It was either save my ear or save my life.”

Sarah, pictured with her sonCredit: PA Real Life
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Three weeks later, in October 2016, Sarah went under the knife, also having reconstructive surgery.

She continued: “It almost looks like a jigsaw. They stitched it all together, so it’s ear shaped, but just a lot smaller. I call it my mini ear.”

During the operation, doctors – who are unable to confirm what has caused her cancer – also injected Sarah with a radioactive dye, designed to highlight any further cancer traces evident in her body.

Worryingly, they revealed the disease had spread to some lymph nodes in her neck.

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Once they were removed and sent away for testing, though, a CT scan seemed to show she was in the clear.

What is skin cancer?

According to the NHS, skin cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world.

Non-melanoma skin cancer refers to a group of cancers that slowly develop in the upper layers of the skin.

The term non-melanoma distinguishes these more common types of skin cancer from the less common skin cancer known as melanoma, which can be more serious.

In the UK, more than 100,000 new cases of non-melanoma skin cancer are diagnosed each year. It affects more men than women and is more common in the elderly.

The most common sign of melanoma is the appearance of a new mole or a change in an existing mole.

This can occur anywhere on the body, but the most commonly affected areas are the back in men and the legs in women. Melanomas are uncommon in areas which are protected from sun exposure, such as the buttocks and the scalp.

Knowing the difference between a freckle and a cancerous mole could be the difference between life and death.

There are more than 15,000 new cases of skin cancer in the UK each year, according to Cancer Research UK.

You can tell if your mole is cancerous using this ABCDE guide.

“I was practically dancing after that,” recalled Sarah. “I thought that was it. It was over.”

But, around eight weeks later, in December 2016, the lymph node results came back, showing they contained malignant cancer cells.

So, in January 2017, Sarah had an operation known as a neck dissection, where doctors make an incision from the chin to the neck, then up towards the ear.

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