A mother-of-two has revealed her shock after she was diagnosed with skin cancer in the exact same spot she suffered a blistering sun burn as a child on holiday.
Emma Ceckle, 47, from Birmingham, said she had suffered a painful burn while on a trip to Greece with her parents as a seven-year-old and she was forced to use dressings on her head and arms to soothe the pain.
Forty years on, the jewellery dealer was shocked when her sister warned her a mark on her forehead could be cancer, and she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma in the exact spot where her forehead burnt so severely.
After having the cancer removed, she said her 11 and eight-year-old daughters no longer complain about applying sunscreen, telling FEMAIL: ‘Their aversion to sunscreen has gone and when they complain about sunscreen, I have said it is really important and now they see why.’
Emma Ceckle, 47, from Birmingham, has revealed her shock after she was diagnosed with skin cancer in the exact same spot she suffered a blistering sun burn as a child on holiday (pictured with her daughters, who are 11 and nine-years-old)
Emma suffered serious sunburn as a child on holiday in Greece in the 1980s (pictured here), leaving her forehead blistered
She said she can distinctly remember getting sunburnt in Corfu.
The mother-of-two explained: ‘I had to have dressings on my arms. It was not just me but other children we were with and my sister was burnt too.
‘Sunscreen was not as good then as it is now and we were not as aware in the 1980s.
‘In my adult life, I have been very conscious of applying an SPF and have been very careful since my early 20s to avoid early ageing.
Forty years on, the jewellery dealer was shocked when her sister warned her a mark on her forehead could be cancer, and she was diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma
‘I have only ever been on one sunbed too. I am not one for laying out in the sun and would rather use fake tan.’
Emma noticed that there was a problem when she knocked her head in August last year.
A mark appeared on her forehead, in the place where she had been sunburnt 40 years ago, but the mark would not heal.
She explained: ‘It was just a small mark and a little sore. I was not aware I had knocked it but it would bleed and scab and never heal.
Emma said she can distinctly remember getting sunburnt in Corfu at the age of seven, suggesting she ‘had to have dressings on her arms’ during the holiday
‘My sister is a doctor and I showed her and she looked at it and thought it was cancerous.’
Emma said she went to see Dr Banwell, who is also the founder of The Melanoma and Skin Cancer Unit in East Grinstead, rather than using the NHS, because waiting lists were so long.
She said: ‘It is really difficult to get an appointment and a referral at the moment and I did not want to wait.’
‘I trusted Paul with my face. I wanted to go to the very best I could go to.’
Emma first saw Dr Banwell in November and he said she had to have surgery to remove the basal cell carcinoma.
Meanwhile Emma (pictured) also revealed she is ‘not one for laying out in the sun’ and had only used a sun bed ‘once’ in her life
WHAT IS BASAL CELL CARCINOMA?
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer.
Non-melanoma means it does not involve skin pigment cells.
BCC often appears as scabs that bleed
BCC makes up more than 80 per cent of all forms of skin cancer in the UK, with over 100,000 new cases being diagnosed every year.
It is mainly caused by overexposure to UV light from the sun or tanning beds.
BCC can occur anywhere on the body but is most common on areas exposed to the sun, such as the face, neck and ears.
The following people are most at risk:
- People with fair skin or hair
- Those who work outdoors
- People who use sunbeds
- Those with a personal history of the condition
BCC is usually painless. Early symptoms often only include a scab that bleeds occasionally and does not heal.
Some appear as flat, red, scaly marks or have a pearl-like rim. The latter can then erode into a ulcer.
Others are lumpy with shiny nodules crossed by blood vessels.
Most BCCs can be cured, however, treatment is complex if they are left for a long time.
Treatment usually involves removing the cancerous tumour and some of the surrounding skin.
Source: British Skin Foundation and NHS Choices
It is one of the most common forms of skin cancer and the most frequently occurring form of all cancers.
She said she was stunned by the diagnosis, saying: ‘When I first saw Paul, I thought he would say it was nothing and that my skin is just thinner and harder to heal because I’m getting older and I was really shocked it was cancer.
‘I was so shocked when I went through my history with Paul.’
The mark was removed in April, because it was not able to be treated topically.
After knocking her head in August last year, Emma noticed the bump wouldn’t heal, and she ended up going to see a private doctor in November about it
Emma now has a 5cm scar, which is nothing compared to what it could have been if she had left it any longer.
If Emma had continued to wait to have it dealt with, she would have had to undergo a different procedure and would have been left with a much larger scar.
The mother-of-two is now urging people, especially those looking after children, to take precautions in the sunshine.
She said: ‘People need to be really conscious of protecting their children and we all already know we should wear a hat and apply sunscreen regularly but somehow, it’s easy to forget’.
Emma now has a 5cm scar, which is nothing compared to what it could have been if she had left it any longer
Dr Banwell, who treated Emma is warning parents about sun protection and the importance taking precautions such as using suncream on their kids as well as making them wear sun hats and staying out of the bright midday sun.
He explained: ‘The majority of sun exposure occurs during childhood years. We also know that sunburn episodes when younger are a strong predictor of future skin cancer formation in later years’
He explained: ‘Sadly, Emma’s case is very much a reflection of this.
‘She got severely burnt as a child in the early 1980s, when far less was known about the damage caused to the skin by the sun, and now she has been diagnosed with skin cancer.
‘Fortunately, we have removed the skin cancer but it shows the dangers of sunburn at a young age very clearly.’
Emma, who has two daughters aged eight and 11, said her girls are very shocked by what has happened to her and now don’t moan about applying their own sunscreen
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