A cancer sufferer claims she is ‘losing her identity as a black woman’ because she is slowly turning white – a rare side effect of her treatment.
Paula Edwards, 54, from Loughborough, was diagnosed with terminal kidney cancer in 2012 and was initially given 12 months to live.
But more than five years later, the mother-of-two is still defying the odds and holding down her job as a community care officer.
After undergoing her fourth surgery last year, she began taking Votrient tablets, which have side effects such as blisters on the tongue and hands.
But the drug has also caused her skin to lighten dramatically – prompting her baffled doctors to contact experts in the US. However, medical literature states it be a well-known side effect.
Ms Edwards said doctors have told her there is a chance that her skin tone could continue to get lighter to the point where she appears Caucasian as cruel strangers have accused her of bleaching her own skin.
She is now ‘praying’ she doesn’t become fully-white and revealed that her youngest daughter, who is nine, now tells her ‘you don’t look like my mummy’.
Paula Edwards, 54, from Loughborough in Leicestershire, is taking a drug that has caused her skin tone to lighten. Doctors warn she may appear Caucasian soon
The impact it has had on her life
Ms Edwards, who was put on the tablets after the cancer returned again in 2016, said: ‘I’ve feel like I’ve lost my identity.
‘I was put on this medication and it’s been a gradual lightening of my pigmentation and skin ever since.
‘I first noticed because I had a picture of myself and my daughter Reccarnei at her 18th on May 14 last year.
‘I started very subtly going a bit lighter but it wasn’t obvious, I was still quite dark and then it progressed.’
‘I don’t feel like me’
She added: ‘By November it was very apparent. While I’ve been on the cancer journey I’ve always gone into work, seen my colleagues and tried to catch up on things.
‘But they did not see me during this time at all because I was struggling to deal with the loss of my colour.
‘Although people say “Paula, you’re still Paula, you’ve still got your lovely smile and your voice” – but I don’t feel like me.
‘I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I’m still here but I’m not happy because I’ve lost my colour.’
Ms Edwards is now ‘praying’ she doesn’t become fully-white and revealed that her nine-year-old daughter now tells her ‘you don’t look like my mummy’ (pictured with her oldest daughter Reccarnei, 19)
She said she struggles when her nine-year-old daughter says ‘you don’t look like my mummy’. But she said she just lives with it as she has no choice.
Accused of bleaching
Ms Edwards said some people had even accused her of ‘bleaching’ in a deliberate attempt to lighten her skin.
She added: ‘When people bleach, there are still traces where you can tell they’ve bleached, for instance their knuckles and elbows are still fully black.
I don’t want to sound ungrateful because I’m still here but I’m not happy because I’ve lost my colour
‘With me, I was through and through light – from top to bottom, knuckle elbow, you name it
‘For me, it was quite insulting when people would say, “Paula, have you been bleaching?” I would never do that.
‘At the end of the day it’s a side effect of the drug but the consultants weren’t able to answer if I could definitely turn white.
‘All they could come back and tell me was that it had happened to some people with Afro-Caribbean skin colour in other parts of the world.
‘I would hope and pray I won’t go white because I’ve still got melanin in me but it’s not as strong as what it should be.’
Her diagnosis
Ms Edwards was first diagnosed with kidney cancer in May 2012 but has managed to hold down her job at Nottingham City Council, where she has worked for 26 years.
After undergoing her fourth surgery last year, she began taking Votrient tablets, which have side effects such as blisters. They were also responsible for lightening her skin tone
Ms Edwards said some people had even accused her of ‘bleaching’ in a deliberate attempt to lighten her skin (pictured with her nine-year-old daughter Kimarhnei)
When her skin started to lighten medics at Nottingham City Hospital did not know why it was happening and contacted specialist consultants in America.
Doctors left baffled
She was told the bizarre side effect does happen to some people, but she was the first they had experienced that its happened to with the medication.
Since then, she was become aware of another Asian person who has experienced it – but not to the same degree.
However, medical literature shows it to be a side effect – but it strikes less often than the common rashes, dry skin and blood clots.
She praised the medical staff involved in helping her defy expectations. She said: ‘At the end of the day, the consultants are remarkable and brilliant but they are not God.
‘I believe there is a higher power and when your time is up, it’s up. Technically I’m not supposed to be here, but I’m a stubborn and pig-headed person.
‘I’m still working, holding down my job. The tablets are doing the job and I’m still here.’
Setting up a support group for black women
Ms Edwards has since helped set up a support group called Sista’s Against Cancer for black women going through the same experience.
She added: ‘Although I could relate with what women were saying as a professional person myself, they couldn’t truly understand where I was coming from as a black person.
‘But we are not solely just for black and Afro-Caribbean people though. People hide when they’ve got cancer – you only hear they have got it when they’ve passed. They miss out on valuable support.’