Katherine Ryan misdiagnosed by doctors before mole devastatingly confirmed as cancerous

Katherine Ryan, a comedian and TV star, admitted she struggled to find a diagnosis after being diagnosed with melanoma a second time because doctors dismissed it.

Comedian Katherine Ryan has revealed doctors misdiagnosed her before being told she has melanoma. The TV star shared the heartbreaking news of the return of her skin cancer on a new episode of her podcast.

She had previously been diagnosed with melanoma, but when she went to check a mole on her arm, everything was unwarranted. When Kathy became concerned about a mole that “kept changing,” she scheduled to see a doctor. The podcaster acknowledged that she had stage two melanoma on her leg when she was just 21 years old and had previously discussed the condition.

It was melanoma, not that big, and flat, according to the doctor. It has a deadly skin cancer form that spreads quickly. I initially believed this mole wasn’t accurate. It’s on my arm, I suppose. On my social media accounts, I posted pictures of it. I requested that the doctor remove it and stitch it up straight away when I arrived.

However, Katherine was met by an unexpected response when she headed to see her doctor. She was told she didn’t have melanoma and was “totally fine”. Katherine revealed: “But even when he looked at it, he was like, ‘it’s not melanoma, it’s totally fine, I will do a shave and send it away for testing’.”

Yet, the doctor soon called her back and confirmed it was melanoma. Katherine explained it is early melanoma and the doctor was “shocked” that he didn’t recognise it. Speaking on her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, episode last week Katherine revealed: “I’m covered in about 5,000 moles and I had melanoma when I was 21, I had a golf ball size of my leg removed.

Although the melanoma wasn’t particularly large, they do at least two centimeters on each side to ensure they get all the borders, according to the doctor. At the time, stage 2 was being considered, and I’ve been told that stage one is now what they’re called. Although I didn’t have lymphadenopathy, melanoma can spread quickly and aggressively.

She added: “I went in to the Cadogan clinic. If you go private with anything, you know, try to set aside as much money as you can for these private healthcare emergencies because, it was not an emergency, but I know if I went through the NHS they’d be like, ‘meh it’s fine’ and I did have this mole looked at for like £200 by a private clinic near Harley Street and the guy – the consultation was seven minutes long – and the guy was like, ‘no that’s no melanoma it’s blah, blah, blah’ – I forget the name he used.

However, it’s a big mole that’s wrinkling and red constantly. And I realized that while it’s nice to get answers like those, “no, it’s not melanoma,” “oh well I’ll be on my way,” you can’t just walk away with that kind of an answer. It’s better to be safe than sorry if it’s different, if it’s changing, or if it’s on your body.

I called the Cadogan Clinic, where a plastic surgeon and a dermatologist are located, and they told me, “I wanna go in on exactly this Friday that I have off and I want to get the mole removed,” she continued. That’s what I enjoy most about private healthcare.

There is a tiny freckle-sized object on the bottom of it that I’d like to look at but I believe it might be basal cell carcinoma, according to the man who was there. You know there is something inflaming the surface of this mole and you don’t like it, let’s take it off, he said, using a different word than that which I didn’t know.

When I have moles removed, they typically cut pretty deep all around them before stitching the wound in a straight line, which heals in a straight line. However, this man said, “Oh, it doesn’t need to go that deep; we just need to shave,” which is still a little bit deep. The difference is that I now have a hole in my arm that is much bigger than I anticipated because they don’t join it in a line.

People living with cancer and their loved ones can receive private support from The Macmillan Support Line. If you need to talk, call us on 0808 808 0000.

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Source: Mirror