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A young Australian woman has issued a brutal warning after she was diagnosed with melanoma when she was just 20 years old.
Teish Ward, who lives in Melbourne, underwent surgery in 2019 to remove skin cancer and 11 lymphatic modes to try to cure her of the disease.
Ward also spent a year and a half receiving chemotherapy and immunotherapy and now warns others to protect themselves when at the beach with friends.
“You always think this will never happen to you, but it can happen, and it happened to me,” he said. yahoo.
Ward said she spent most of her teenage years on the beach “baking in the sun” with her friends.
Teish Ward (pictured), who was diagnosed with melanoma when she was 20, has issued an urgent warning to Australians to stop “baking in the sun”.
“I also grew up on the beach my whole life, so while I definitely wore a hat and sunscreen, I also got a tan and lay in the sun,” she said.
However, years spent sunbathing took a toll on Ms Ward’s skin.
It was her older sister, Georgia, who first noticed a freckle on the 20-year-old’s back.
The small lump that had formed on her skin bled every time Mrs. Ward scratched the area.
She decided to see her doctor a few days later and soon received the dreaded news that she had melanoma.
The doctor said Mrs Ward would need to undergo surgery to remove the disease from her body.
Despite the diagnosis, Ward was quick to dismiss the severity of the disease and said she would be fine once surgeons removed the mole.
Ms Ward was admitted to Alfred Hospital just four days later and had cancerous tissue removed from her back.
Surgeons also removed 11 lymph nodes (which are small lumps of tissue that fight infection) that had also become cancerous.
Five lymphatic modes were removed from one of Mrs. Ward’s armpits and six from the other.
Ms Ward (pictured) underwent grueling surgery and received several rounds of chemotherapy after the cancer progressed.
However, after surgery, doctors informed him a week later that the cancer had advanced, but remained confident that the disease could be completely cured.
“We walked into the room and there was a big team of people and they said, ‘This is a really unfortunate case (and) it has actually spread.’ It’s stage 3C melanoma,” Ms Ward said.
The advanced diagnosis meant Ms Ward underwent chemotherapy and immunotherapy, as well as having PET and MRI scans every six months.
Ward finished her chemotherapy in 2020 and decided to help others become more aware of the causes of skin cancer and the harmful effects of exposing their skin to the sun.
Together with Georgia, Ward founded GT Skin in 2021 and launched fake tanning products, as an alternative to lying in the sun on the beach.
Still recovering from her surgery, Ms Ward will receive final test results from her ongoing treatment in August.
Melanoma is the third most common form of cancer in Australia and one in 17 Australians is diagnosed with the disease.
More than 18,200 Australians were diagnosed with melanoma in 2023 alone.