Courtney Mangan was 29 when she was diagnosed with deadly stage four cancer and given an 18 per cent chance of survival.
The business owner, from the Gold Coast, had been to the GP twice about a “worrying” mole on her back, but they insisted she was fine. It wasn’t until she went to a skin specialist that the disturbing truth was revealed.
“I had my first skin check when I was 29, but it was too late,” Courtney, now 38, told FEMAIL.
“I had a mole on my back that I never saw, but my family told me it started to change and urged me to see a doctor.
“The specialist checked my whole body and said everything looked normal, but I expressed concern about the mole on my back, so he took a cut and sent it to pathology.”
Courtney recalled that the doctor asked her to call back on Monday and said the receptionist would give her the all-clear, but alarm bells rang when she received an urgent call from her doctor on Friday morning.
‘I was working in the family business with my father and brother just a few meters from me. “My doctor said that unfortunately my mole had reverted to level four melanoma and he needed to refer me to a specialist in Brisbane,” she said.
‘I was immediately paralyzed: my uncle had died of melanoma just a few years earlier. My whole world changed in that moment. He couldn’t consider it anything other than a death sentence.
Courtney Mangan received a fatal diagnosis of stage 4 cancer with an 18 per cent chance of survival, but the young Gold Coast woman has beaten cancer four times in the last decade.
“I had my first skin checkup when I was 29, but it was too late,” the now 38-year-old woman told FEMAIL.
At this time he had not been given a stage four diagnosis. “Level four” refers to the depth of melanoma invasion into the skin. There are five levels. The ‘stage’ is whether the melanoma has advanced beyond the skin.
Courtney felt isolated after her diagnosis.
“All my friends were looking for free rooms for their children when they were buying houses, or they had to carry bags in case they went into labor at night,” she said.
‘But I had a hospital bag in case my body started to fail due to cancer treatment. I was looking for apartments with extra rooms in case my mother had to stay with me.
“We had very different realities.”
Courtney went for checkups every three months after doctors removed the mole from her shoulder.
One day, more than a year later, he suddenly felt a lump on his arm and suspected it was a boil that had not yet surfaced.
Courtney also suddenly experienced pain when eating and described the sensation as an “uncomfortable blockage” in her intestine.
“I also have irritable bowel syndrome, so I wasn’t sure if that was it,” she said.
Courtney relied on the support of her loved ones
Courtney went for checkups every three months after doctors removed the mole from her shoulder.
A PET scan revealed suspicious activity in his intestine, but a colonoscopy came back all clear.
Doctors then performed an endoscopy where they found a concerning mass.
“I woke up after surgery and saw a huge scar on my abdomen,” he recalled.
“I was alone, all night, in my hospital room, and then at 5:30 the next morning, the doctor came and told me that the cancer had spread to my internal organs and that I was now in the stage four”.
The exit left shortly after informing Courtney of her diagnosis and she was left alone with her thoughts.
“It’s pretty scary to be in your 30s and hear that. I knew I would have to have more surgeries, more invasive treatments, and the survival rate is not high,” she said.
The fourth time, doctors found a mass on Courtney’s thigh and decided they couldn’t remove it.
‘I had to get treatment because they wanted to know if it was really working. “If they just removed it, the cancer could have appeared somewhere else three months later,” he said.
Courtney’s mental health has been greatly affected due to her diagnosis, but she always tries to see the bright side.
Courtney said having to have scans every three months made her feel like she was living on borrowed time.
“It was very strange to know that I was going about my daily life but I had cancer in my thigh, oozing and spreading.”
Courtney’s mental health has been greatly affected due to her diagnosis, but she always tries to see the bright side.
‘I have been living with cancer for nine years and it has been difficult. I read many books on the subject and tried yoga and meditation. I wanted to stay in a positive headspace.
“No one pampers you, there is no sugar-coated cancer.” Doctors simply tell you the facts.
She shared that having to get scans every three months made her feel like she was living on borrowed time.
‘It was just an endless cycle of going to the doctor and waiting to go to the doctor next time.
‘I thought too much about every pain I had, I was very aware of every symptom I had. I was very aware of my body and thought about it constantly.
‘So you feel a horrible pit in your stomach as you wait for the results to come back.
Courtney said she thought too much about every ache and pain while she was in treatment.
Courtney felt a ‘pit’ in her stomach as she waited for her results.
‘I have never gone to the emergency room as often as when I was undergoing treatment because you never know how cancer will present.
‘If there is some inflammation, a biopsy is done. Then a PET scan. Then an ultrasound. And then there are many other follow-up tests.”
He said he felt like he “could only breathe for three months at a time.”
“I was never happy or free from it. “Melanoma is so aggressive that it can come back again and again.”
Courtney relied heavily on the support of her loved ones.
‘As a single woman, having a close relationship with my friends and family was very important. “They really helped me through my darkest days.”
Her oncologist spoke with her about her fertility options and they decided to freeze her eggs before undergoing treatment.
“I was about to start something that would hopefully save my life, but I had to postpone it to protect my fertility. I was single at the time and I wasn’t really thinking about children. I was thinking about how to stay alive.
Courtney’s oncologist spoke with her about her fertility options and they decided to freeze her eggs before undergoing treatment.
“I wasn’t even sure I wanted to delay the immunotherapy process to freeze my eggs.”
Despite being cancer-free for three years, Courtney still feels the weight of her health journey on her shoulders.
“You can never get rid of it, there’s a dark cloud hanging over you all the time.”
What are the causes of melanoma?
According Cancer Council In Australia, the risk of melanoma increases with exposure to ultraviolet radiation from the sun or other sources such as solariums, particularly with episodes of sunburn (especially during childhood).
The risk of melanoma increases in people who have:
- exposure to ultraviolet radiation without protection
- a history of tanning and sunburn in childhood
- a pattern of short, intense periods of exposure to ultraviolet radiation
- having many moles: more than 50 on the body and more than 10 above the elbows on the arms
- largest number of unusual moles
- depressed immune systems
- family history of melanoma in a first-degree relative
- light skin, tendency to burn instead of tan, freckles, light eye color (blue or green), light or red hair color
- had a previous melanoma or non-melanoma skin cancer