Technical saleswoman Kristina Findalen was holidaying in Italy with her children and dad when she noticed some changes to her birthmark.
The 37-year-old, from Copenhagen, had an innocuous birthmark on her right palm which began growing in size, itching and losing its colour.
After the trip, it took about three months until Kristina was referred to a dermatologist who immediately sent her to the cancer ward.
They took the biopsy and ran tests and Kristina got an answer ten days later – she had developed stage one melanoma, a common type of skin cancer, in her birthmark
Fortunately, the disease had been caught in the early stages and could be treated.
Kristina’s life had already been turned upside down 18 months prior when she and her husband of 17 years split.
Five months later he died by suicide, devastating her and their two children.
The single mother-of-two was advised that surgery to remove the cancer would be the most successful route.
She was told that a skin graft would cover the deep wound on her hand, but the surgery only resulted in more problems.
Kristina ended up having two skin grafts – when a piece of skin is transplanted to a new site on a patient’s body or to a different individual.
‘Normally when you hear cancer you associate it with death,’ explained Kristina.
‘I was in shock and thought it was nothing, it was just a birthmark, and I didn’t see that it could be cancer really.’
Doctors told Kristina that removing it surgically would be the best outcome with melanoma.
She said: ‘I went into survival mode. My kids only have me after their dad died, so I refused to think that I wouldn’t beat this sickness.
‘We had just kind of got back to normal, well as normal as possible, and then I got this diagnosis and it came crashing down all over again.
‘On December 3, I had my first surgery where they removed my cancer and skin graft from my thigh.
‘They, unfortunately, damaged a nerve to my little finger- it is a risk with the surgery because in the hand you have no fat layer, it’s all muscle and bone and nerves its very compact, so it is a risk.’
Luckily, Kristina has been given the all-clear from her cancer.
In May 2019, she needed a second operation to replace her damaged nerve with a donor nerve, followed by a second skin graft.
Despite this, Kristina still has ongoing issues with the damage caused by the surgery, but she hopes that sharing her story will help others who are going through a similar diagnosis.
She added: ‘I’ve never heard of anyone having it in the hand.
‘I was looking up “what would be the outcome?” And “what will it look like?” And I couldn’t find any references online because there weren’t any, so I think the more people share, the more enlightened other people can get.
‘Cancer is not something we can prevent but we can be more aware and hopefully spot it in an early stage.’
Need support? Contact the Samaritans
For emotional support you can call the Samaritans 24-hour helpline on 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, visit a Samaritans branch in person or go to the Samaritans website.
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source https://metro.co.uk/2020/02/02/single-mum-needs-two-skin-grafts-after-birthmark-becomes-cancerous-12167888/
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