A mother-of-two who was left with a cricket-ball-sized “crater” on her leg claimed doctors dismissed her cancer as “scaly skin” for more than a decade.
Megan Grieves, from Leicester, first saw a small mole on her left leg when she was just 15 years old.
But after her grandmother urged her to get it checked, she says her GP believed it was dry skin and prescribed moisturizing creams instead.
Although the mole grew to the size of a 10p coin over the course of 13 years, he was repeatedly given other ointments to treat a “psoriasis” flare-up, he claimed.
Only after Ms Grieves, then 28, was seen by another GP in 2016, was she referred to a dermatologist and diagnosed with melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer.
Megan Grieves, from Leicester, first saw a small mole on her left leg when she was just 15 years old. But after her grandmother urged her to get it checked out, she says her GP believed it was dry skin and she prescribed moisturizers instead. In the photo, Mrs Grieves with her husband Jake.
Although the mole grew to the size of a 10p coin over the course of 13 years, he was repeatedly given other ointments to treat a “psoriasis” flare-up, he claimed. Only after Ms Grieves, then 28, was seen by another GP in 2016, was she referred to a dermatologist and diagnosed with melanoma, one of the deadliest forms of skin cancer. Pictured is Grieves after her surgery.
After two surgeries to remove the mole and surrounding skin from her leg, she needed a skin graft to cover the incision, leaving her with the permanent “crater” (pictured).
After two operations to remove the mole and surrounding skin from her leg, she needed a skin graft to cover the incision, leaving her with the permanent “crater.”
Recalling her ordeal, Mrs Grieves, now 36, said: “I had had a mole on my leg for as long as I can remember.
‘When I turned 15, my grandmother said she didn’t like the way she looked and told me to go to the doctor.
‘My mole would flake off and pieces would come off. I think over a 10 year period I went to the GP about this mole about 30 times.
‘I kept going back to the doctors and every time I went to the GP they just told me it was dry skin or psoriasis and gave me E45 cream to try and prescribed lots of different things.
‘As time went on, my mole became more scabby and scaly and sometimes bled.
“It started out the size of a large freckle and got to the size of a 10p coin.”
After her dermatology appointment, she was told to pick up the results at the hospital.
Mrs Grieves, a mother of two, said: ‘They asked me if I had come alone and then I knew something was wrong.
“My heart sank, but I was also very naive at the time and didn’t understand what could be wrong with a mole.
“Then they told me it was melanoma. The diagnosis impacted our lives enormously. The recovery was very long and I was on my feet for a long time.’
Every year, around 15,000 Britons and 100,000 Americans are diagnosed with melanoma, the most common form of skin cancer. It is the fifth most common cancer in the UK and the numbers are rising.
The increase has been attributed to increased exposure to UV rays from the sun or tanning beds.
Despite enormous advances in treatment, which have seen survival rise from less than 50 percent to more than 90 percent in the last decade, it still kills more than 2,000 people a year.
Melanoma usually grows quickly and can quickly pass through the skin and reach the blood vessels underneath.
Mrs Grieves, a mother-of-two, said: “They asked me if I had come alone and then I knew something was wrong.” My heart sank, but at that time I was still very naive and didn’t understand what could be wrong with a mole.’ In the photo, Mrs Grieves with her husband Jake.
After Ms Grieves’ second surgery in 2017, she says she was diagnosed with lymphedema, a chronic disease that causes swelling in the body’s tissues, and fibromyalgia, which causes pain throughout the body. Pictured is Grieves as a child with her late grandmother June Evans.
Mrs Grieves said: “I’ve had a skin graft now so it’s healed but I’ve got a huge crater in my leg and it’s almost all the way to the bone.” If I knock on the door it’s unbearable. She also doesn’t go bare legs in public after noticing “kids staring at them.”
There are three types of skin cancer. Each one can present itself in different ways. These include asymmetrical or abnormal moles, scaly or dark spots, and waxy bumps on the surface of the skin.
Once cancer cells enter the bloodstream, the disease can spread throughout the body.
After Ms Grieves’ second surgery in 2017, she says she was diagnosed with lymphedema, a chronic disease that causes swelling in the body’s tissues, and fibromyalgia, which causes pain throughout the body.
And he added: ‘My grandmother passed away but she kept me going. If it weren’t for her, I might never have had my mole examined. She saved my life.
‘They (the doctors) said they wouldn’t know how serious (the skin cancer) was until they operated on me.
‘They cut a circle off my leg and then I was left with an open wound.
‘(In the second surgery), they dissected some of the lymph nodes on the left side of the groin and biopsied them. Fortunately they told me that the melanoma had not spread and I was very lucky.
‘I’ve had a skin graft now so it’s healed, but I have a huge crater in my leg and it almost goes to the bone. If I knock on the door it’s unbearable.
She also doesn’t go bare legs in public after noticing “kids staring at them.”
She added: “I can’t even go to a theme park with my children because standing in line for too long makes my leg swell.” Lymphedema will be with me for the rest of my life.’
Now Ms Grieves is urging others not to “take no for an answer” from their doctors or give up if they think something is wrong.
She added: “I can’t even go to a theme park with my children because standing in line for too long makes my leg swell.” Lymphedema will be with me for the rest of my life.’ Now Grieves urges others not to “take no for an answer” from their doctors or give up if they think something isn’t right. In the photo, Mrs. Grieves with her husband Jake and her two daughters.
She said: ‘The GP told me it was psoriasis for 10 years and patches of dry skin. This is what I tell people: don’t take no for an answer and go back to your GP.
“I’ve always covered up and never been on a sun lounger, which shows it can happen to anyone, but not using sunscreen or sun loungers increases the risk.”
‘No tan is worth what I went through.
‘What they tell you as a melanoma patient is that on the first day of every month you should look at your skin in a mirror to detect new moles or changes.’
It comes as scientists revealed last month that the first personalized mRNA injection for melanoma is being tested in British patients.
The vaccine is custom designed for people using the specific genetic makeup of their tumor, giving it the best chance of a cure.
It works by telling the body to look for cancer cells and prevent the deadly disease from returning.
Early results from the vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical giants Moderna and MSD, found it dramatically improved chances of survival.