Home Health Mother of four diagnosed with terminal skin cancer that spread to her brain after seeing ‘barely appearing’ sign on her fingernail

Mother of four diagnosed with terminal skin cancer that spread to her brain after seeing ‘barely appearing’ sign on her fingernail

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Kelly Heather has seen her cancer return twice and now suffers from metastatic disease that has spread to her brain.

A woman faces leaving her four children without a mother after a subtle change in her fingernail turned out to be an aggressive skin cancer that spread to her brain.

Kelly Heather, 38, from Kent, first noticed a faint, dark line in the middle of her nail in 2017 and visited her GP for advice.

But after a series of tests, he was assured that the strange marking was nothing sinister.

However, within three months, the line on her finger became darker and thicker, prompting another visit to the doctor and, eventually, a referral to skin specialists.

A biopsy revealed devastating news: Ms. Heather had melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.

When the disease begins under the nail, it is medically known as subungual melanoma and usually presents as streaks or bruises on the nail bed that do not heal or grow.

Subungual melanomas are thought to account for around two per cent of the 17,500 cases diagnosed in the UK each year.

Ms Heather had her nail bed removed at Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, West Sussex, and was told the surgery had gone well and there was no cancer left.

Kelly Heather has seen her cancer return twice and now suffers from metastatic disease that has spread to her brain.

But after six months, something that looked like a wart appeared on the tip of her finger, a sign that the cancer had returned.

Doctors told him they would have to partially amputate his finger to make sure all the disease was eliminated.

‘I said whatever you need, take it. “I prefer that to it spreading anywhere else,” he said.

He underwent a life-changing operation in March 2020 and was given the all-clear, with doctors saying it was highly unlikely his illness would spread.

Despite this, Ms Heather requested further scans to ensure there were no cells left, but her request was refused.

Just over two years later, in August 2022, he discovered a lump in his armpit.

A series of tests confirmed that the cancer had returned, this time spreading to the lymph nodes under the arm, glands responsible for removing waste products from the body.

He subsequently underwent major surgery in which 20 lymph nodes were removed.

The line on Ms. Heather's nail started out as a faint mark but soon turned into a darker streak.

The line on Ms. Heather’s nail started as a faint mark but soon turned into a darker streak.

Doctors then gave her the heartbreaking news that her illness was now metastatic melanoma, a type of skin cancer that has spread to another part of the body.

But after undergoing a year of immunotherapy treatment, Heather’s scans came back clear, suggesting the disease had been successfully eradicated once again.

In April 2024, she was told she did not need a second year of immunotherapy and was classified as in remission.

Two weeks later, she discovered she was pregnant with her fourth child.

But at 35 weeks pregnant, she discovered she was having trouble lifting her left leg properly.

She said: “My leg started moving and shaking uncontrollably, and within a minute, I was having a full-on seizure in the kitchen.”

“I honestly thought he died. I thought I was dying and all I could think was that my children had lost their mother and my baby was going to die.

“It’s one of the most traumatic things I’ve ever been through.”

She was diagnosed with brain cancer just weeks before giving birth to her fourth child.

She was diagnosed with brain cancer just weeks before giving birth to her fourth child.

She said:

She said: “They removed most of the tumor but they couldn’t remove it all without causing permanent paralysis on my left side.”

Scans of Heather’s brain revealed a tumor located within the organ, which had the same genetic profile as her initial melanoma cancer.

Doctors diagnosed stage 4 metastatic melanoma. Only one in five patients survives this phase of the disease for more than five years.

Reflecting on her ordeal, Ms Heather wondered if the outcome would have been different if she had undergone the scans she requested after her first diagnosis.

“Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer and does not follow the same rules as all other cancers,” he said.

“They wouldn’t give me that extra peace of mind by having those extra scans, and I think (the cancer) would have been caught much earlier, before it got into my lymphatic system, which is where it spread quite quickly.”

‘I wonder what would have happened if I had had the scan I asked for.

“I feel like things could have been approached differently and I could be in a different position than I am now.”

She gave birth to her fourth child, Te-Jay, on December 9 and less than 10 days later, she underwent brain surgery to remove the tumour.

Ms Heather also had surgery to remove 20 of her lymph nodes, glands under the arm that help remove toxins from the body.

Ms Heather also had surgery to remove 20 of her lymph nodes, glands under the arm that help remove toxins from the body.

She said: ‘They removed most of the tumor but they couldn’t remove it all without causing permanent paralysis on my left side.

“So a small part was left behind, so I have to have targeted radiation therapy to kill the remaining tumor left in the brain.”

Heartbreakingly, she was told there was a 25 per cent chance the cancer would spread to her baby through the placenta.

Tests have come back positive so far, but Te-Jay is being monitored regularly at Guy’s Hospital.

“It’s just another concern,” he said. “No mother would want to think that she may have given cancer to her baby.”

With a newborn to care for, she is now starting a new treatment that includes two separate immunotherapy drugs.

“It is the only treatment available,” he said. ‘There’s a 50 percent chance it will work for me. It’s very unpredictable, so it’s quite scary.

‘I don’t think I have fully accepted that I have terminal cancer.

‘Really, I should have continued with the second year of treatment and that would probably have kept it at bay.

“But now I’m waiting to find out where it will appear next.”

Despite her diagnosis, Heather is determined to “stay positive” for her partner Tom Woodcock and their four children: Preston, 17, Brendan, 15, Rhea, 7, and Te-Jay.

The family has created a GoFundMe in order to raise funds to cover her basic needs, since she has been forced to leave work due to her condition and its impact on her mobility.

He also wants to talk about the need for more testing, as he believes his cancer, now at stage 4, could have been detected earlier if he had had another scan.

“I’m pushing for more testing regardless of what stage it is at,” he said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust said: “Our priority is to ensure patients receive the right personalized cancer treatment as quickly as possible.”

“Although we cannot comment on individual cases, we encourage any patient who may have any questions or concerns to speak to the clinical teams providing their care or our Patient Advice and Liaison Service.”

Queen Victoria Hospital has been contacted for comment.

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