Mum's sunbed warning after stage four cancer diagnosis

Claire Turner was sat in the front passenger seat as her 49-year-old husband Mark Turner drove the family, including their three children, for a family weekend away in October 2023.

As she turned from the seat to pass the pastry over to 11-year-old Annabelle Turner in the back seat, she felt a pain in her right shoulder.

Doctors initially believed it to be a torn ligament but the 43-year-old became concerned weeks later when she noticed a slight swelling on her shoulder blade the size of a £2 coin.

The mum-of-three, who used sunbeds in her 20s, is now waiting on a scan that will reveal how the cancer is progressing and is urging people to avoid harmful UV rays to avoid the same fate. (Image: Kennedy News and Media) The accountant's shoulder continued to balloon over the course of the next few weeks and it became so painful she couldn't even wear a bra or carry a bag.

After multiple trips to her GP and hospital Claire underwent a biopsy on the 7cm mass that revealed it was a stage four cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM) in January 2024.

The mum-of-three, who used sunbeds in her 20s, is now waiting on a scan that will reveal how the cancer is progressing and is urging people to avoid harmful UV rays to avoid the same fate.

Claire, from Didcot, Oxfordshire, said: "It was a blessing that injury happened and that I pushed it.

"I don't know what I did that day but obviously some movement made that tumour, that had been under there for a long time, swell and move."

The accountant visited hospital following the trip and after an X-ray showed nothing serious doctors told her it appeared to be a torn ligament'

But weeks later Claire noticed her shoulder looked slightly swollen while travelling to work.

Claire said: "I'm not one for going to the doctors but it just didn't sit right.

"They said it looked like a torn ligament and to just rest it. Nothing showed up on this x-ray at all in terms of tumours.

"They gave me painkillers and told me to keep it strapped up and rest it for a couple of weeks and that it should settle down and it did.

"Then in November I travelled to work and I was carrying my rucksack and thought 'oh, my shoulder is aching a little bit, I'll go and look in the mirror'.

"I had a look and saw that it was slightly swollen. I went to the GP and [was told] that shoulder injuries can take a while to heal."

The mum booked an online GP appointment after noticing 'substantial swelling' on her shoulder and was referred to an orthopaedic consultant in December.

After having an MRI scan she was referred to a sarcoma unit and faced an agonising wait over Christmas waiting for a diagnosis, while 'expecting the worst'.

Claire said: "By this point it was quite apparent and it was quite a substantial swelling on my shoulder. I couldn't carry a bag or wear a bra.

"I went on a spiral over Christmas. It was awful, it was just horrendous, I was expecting the worst. It's the lowest I've felt in the whole journey.

"I went down Google rabbit holes. It's the worst thing you can do when you've got a potential diagnosis hanging over you.

"When you're new to this world and catapulted into it, it's an absolute minefield of where you're getting the information from, I was in the depths of despair."

Claire was stunned when a biopsy revealed she had stage four cutaneous malignant melanoma on January 26th, measuring 7cm.

Claire said: "I was just winded. It threw me sideways, I was just shocked.

"Melanoma is a dodgy mole and it goes from there, that's what I thought.

"It starts with a skin lesion, you look at it and ignore it, that's what I thought skin cancer was.

"I came away knowing it was stage four. The doctor said I had a 50/50 chance of coming out of the other side of this.

"I instantly felt alright with those odds. I thought 'I'll take those odds and I'll run with it and I'm going to be alright'.

"Don't get me wrong, I've had some really down and bad days but I was alright with it.

"After all the waiting there was a sense of relief. They had a plan, it was given to me on a plate and I was able to take it away and digest it.

"There was no primary on my skin. My initial concern was my shoulder because that's the one I could see [but] that possibly wasn't the initial tumour site.

"The nurse said 'it could be that there was something on the skin and your body healed it but the cancer cells got so deep that they stayed in your body and travelled round for months or even years and created tumours'."

The mum-of-three was given three rounds of immunotherapy to shrink her tumours but was forced to stop in August after it caused inflammation to her pituitary gland and optic nerve.

She refused to find out where her cancer had spread until June.

Claire said: "I'm grateful I got it checked out. I was already stage four at that point.

"My nurse said to me that 10 years ago with my diagnosis I would be given six to seven months to live. That was quite shocking.

"My scan in August was a good response, [that] lots of the tumours had gone."

Now Claire is now urging others to look after their skin to prevent the same thing happening to them.

Claire said: "It's about awareness, it's not just waiting for something to pop up on your skin.

"It's about knowing the damage the UV rays do to your skin.

"I still sit in the sun but I'll sit in the shade. I'll wear a hat or I won't have bare shoulders, it's just about knowing.

"It's about not going on the sun beds and not getting burned. Sun damage has caused my cancer, it could have been avoided.

"I did use sun beds and I've been burned in the sun striving for a tan, a tan doesn't last. Fake tan doesn't last and real tan doesn't last but which one's safer?

"I've got lots of moles on the skin and they've been checked. It's about protection and taking care of your skin before anything appears.

"I've been quite open about my story and I've got a lot of support, which has been a massive help in getting through. People's well wishes are all positive.

"I've not had a big pity party,  I don't want people to feel sorry but I want people to wish me well.

"I feel positive in my journey and where I'm at."