A woman with a late stage skin cancer has warned about the catastrophic dangers of the pursuit of a ‘base tan’ for a summer vacation – after just a handful of sessions with a tanning bed, she left her an incurable disease.
Lily Murphy, 30, from Watford, used for the first time in her early 1920s for the first time in the 1920s, to ‘prepare’ her skin on an upcoming trip to Southeast -Asia.
She used the tanning beds – known to increase the risk of cancer by a maximum of 75 percent – for just a few minutes here and there ‘, in total less than an hour over the course of a few weeks.
While she was on vacation, she remembered she used Sun Cream Protect themselves against the harmful UV rays of the sun, aware that it is’Very fair skin and always burned ‘.
On her return to the UK, the NHS manager visited her doctor to inquire about a mole who worried.
“The doctor said this doesn’t look good, I’m going to refer you to the two -week cancer road path,” she said.
She had removed the Mol and was recalled two weeks later for an appointment.
“There were also two MacMillan Cancer nurses … That’s when they told me that it is back as melanoma, stage 1b.”
Lily Murphy was only 23 at the time of her diagnosis of melanoma skin cancer. She is convinced that she developed the disease because of her use in the sun.
Phase 1B Melanoma is one of the earliest stages of the deadliest type of skin cancer.
This phase means that it has not yet spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body, and it is generally very healable.
Mrs. Murphy remembered that it was the youngest person in her cancer support group, at that time 23 years old.
“Everyone was in the forty, 50s, 60s,” she said. “It was an experience.”
Doctors performed surgery to cut the cancer in 2019.
“It felt like such a relief to hear that the cancer had not spread,” she said. “I said to myself,” I defeated it, “Lily said.
But four years later, in January 2023, she started to feel unwell during a family trip to Gloucestershire.
She was ‘constantly tired’ and suffered from painful back pain, which eventually migrated to her chest.
She thought she was cancer -free, but the disease returned three years after her first diagnosis
I Couldn’t breathe. I told my mother that it feels like something is not right, “she said.
Despite repeated trips to A&E, her worries were rejected as fear, coupled with her history of mental health care.
Eventually she was booked for scans and blood tests in another department, which revealed the devastating truth: her cancer was back and had spread to her lungs and neck.
With new treatments, some people live with phase four melanoma according to Cancer Research UK.
However, studies suggest that on average only half of those with this stage of illness live after six years.
Mrs. Murphy started immunotherapy in April 2023, but had trouble tolerate the required doses.
She then tried two oral chemotherapy treatments, but developed a serious allergic reaction within 10 days, including a result that spread in her throat.
She later developed Sepsis, caused by a weakened immune system, and was taken to the hospital.
The disease has now spread to its lungs and neck, which means that her chance of long -term survival is reduced
Now experts warn that cases are increasing again – set up to rise faster in men than women.
In February 2025 she started a new treatment that has already shown signs of reducing her cancer, despite the fact that they only manage four of the recommended 12 tablets per day.
“I am currently taking a break of treatment, because it is just too much on my body,” said Mrs. Murphy.
She now has one petitionForbid sun beds to protect against skin cancer, which has already received more than 700 signatures.
“It was just a tension of the moment,” she said. ‘Sunbeds are a known risk of cancer.
“They would prohibit lives – and save the NHS – money.”
She has called for a stop for the ‘glamorization’ of browns by social media and influencers.
“Your color is semi-permanent, but your life should be permanent,” she said.
Last year, the percentages of fatal melanoma reached a record high in the UK, with new diagnoses that almost a third increase in just a decade with almost a third, according to Cancer Research UK.
Now experts warn that cases are increasing again – set up to rise faster in men than women.
Michelle Mitchell, CEO of Cancer Research, said: ‘The growing number of people with the diagnosis of melanoma is worrying, especially when we can see that the speeds rise faster in men.
“If you notice something else on your skin, such as a new mole, a mole that has changed to size, shape or color, or a piece of skin that looks out of the ordinary – don’t ignore it, talk to your doctor,” she added.
#Shockingly #tanning #bed #led #skin #cancer #23yearold #spread #lungs #neck