After being diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 29, a woman has issued a stern warning.
When Courtney Mangan was devastated to learn that she had stage 4 skin cancer, her chances of survival were reduced to only 18 percent.
Courtney, who is from the Gold Coast of Australia, had seen her doctors twice at the time because she was worried about a mole.
However, her concerns were disregarded, and Courtney didn’t receive the unfortunate news that it was already “too late” until she sought medical advice from a skincare professional.
“I had a mole on my back that I never really saw – but my family told me it started to change and urged me to see a doctor,” she recalled.
“The specialist checked my whole body and said everything looked normal but I expressed my concern about the mole on my back so he took a cutting and sent it to pathology.”
Courtney went on to explain to Daily Mail Australia that she soon received the call she dreaded from her doctor, who informed her that the mole was diagnosed as level four melanoma and that she would need to consult another specialist in Brisbane.
“I immediately went numb – my uncle had died from melanoma just a few years prior,” Courtney, now 38, recalled about the moment she received the news. “My whole world changed in that moment. I couldn’t think of it as anything other than a death sentence.”
However, at that time, she hadn’t yet been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer.
It wasn’t until Courtney started to show additional symptoms that she was informed her cancer had reached stage 4.
A year after doctors removed the cancerous mole from her shoulder, Courtney found a lump in her
She initially thought the pain she felt while eating was related to her irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). However, after an endoscopy, it was revealed that she had a mass in her bowel. Following surgery, Courtney was informed that her cancer had spread to her internal organs and had reached stage four.
Later, another mass was discovered in her thigh, but doctors were unable to remove it.
Thankfully, Courtney has been cancer-free for three years, though she admits that the fear of her illness returning never truly disappears. “There’s a dark cloud hanging over you all the time,” she said.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and wish to speak to someone in confidence, you can reach out to the American Cancer Society at 1-800-227-2345 or use their live chat service, which is available 24/7 every day of the year.