A Dundee mum is backing a new campaign to encourage cancer checks after 20 years of reoccurring melanoma.
Laura Russell was first diagnosed with melanoma – a type of skin cancer – when she was just 18.
Now 38, Laura has since had four more moles removed, all of which were in in the early stages of melanoma.
The mum-of-three is backing ‘Be the Early Bird’ – a new campaign launched by the Scottish Government encouraging people to check possible cancer symptoms as early as possible.
Laura, a solicitor from Broughty Ferry, said the campaign is really close to home after suffering with anxiety due to her recurrent melanoma, which has lasted over half of her life.
Her mum also had the same cancer and had one mole successfully removed.
Laura said: “Because my mum had had melanoma when I was younger it was just something we were quite vigilant with.
“The first one I had removed was just a mole on my calf that had gone a bit darker and because of my mum’s history we thought we would get it checked.
“I was low risk because of my age and I hadn’t been exposed to the sun a great deal so it wasn’t expected to be anything.
“About six to eight weeks later I got a phone call to say it was the early stages of melanoma.”
‘I developed quite a bit of anxiety’
Laura said her mental health has suffered since the first diagnosis.
She said: “It was terrifying – 18 is really young to be dealing with something like that and I think I was still trying to process it.
“I developed quite a bit of anxiety off the back of that and it has continued because it has happened to me so many times now.
“My mum only had one mole that turned out to be melanoma, so I don’t know why it has happened to me so many times.”
Last year Laura had a significant health scare after receiving the results of one cancerous mole which developed further than the others.
While it was still in the early stages, the experience pushed her to do more about getting things checked early.
She said: “Up until last year I think I was coping with it well until the one I had in March.
“I think just because it was that next stage along and a little more scary getting the biopsy results and not knowing what the next stage would be it really impacted me.
“But I think it prompted me to just kind of deal with it and stop being in this constant cycle of anxiety.”
Off the back of the ‘Be the Early Bird‘ campaign, Laura stressed the importance of getting symptoms checked early.
‘Sitting at home worrying isn’t going to help’
She said: ” I can’t emphasise to people enough how important it is to get checked early.
“The doctors caught mine early and it made a huge difference to my life.
“I might not be here otherwise if I’d left it months down the line.
“Sitting at home and worrying about it isn’t going to change anything – that’s what I’ve learnt.
“All it does is impact your mental health, it does nothing to improve your physical health.”
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care Humza Yousaf said: “More people are surviving cancer than ever before in Scotland, but finding cancer at an earlier stage remains key.
“The Be the Early Bird campaign has been designed to highlight why an earlier diagnosis can lead to better outcomes, in terms of treatment options and quality of life after treatment, to motivate people to take action rather than put off getting possible cancer symptoms checked.”
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