Comedian Katherine Ryan has revealed that she has been diagnosed with skin cancer for the second time.
The stand-up comic and former NME columnist, 41, shared the news on Friday (March 21) on her podcast Telling Everybody Everything. She revealed that she had been concerned about a mole on her arm and sought professional help, but a private doctor initially told her that there was nothing to worry about.
However, she noticed that the mole continued to grow, and having received a stage two melanoma diagnosis in her 20s due to an irregular mole on her leg, she went back to a doctor. Tests confirmed that the new mole was in fact cancerous.
Speaking about receiving the initial all-clear, Ryan said: “He gave me the news that I wanted! I think it’s really easy to take a diagnosis of you’re healthy and walk away. You go, ‘Great, I’m healthy’ and you don’t think about it again because that is the easiest news.”
“But the mole kept changing,” she continued. “I know a lot about melanoma. I had a melanoma as a very young woman, stage two on my leg, and I’ve spoken about that before.”
When she decided to return to a doctor for the second time, they agreed to send a sample off for a histology test. The results confirmed that the mole showed early signs of melanoma.
“He was shocked,” Ryan said, referring to the initially sceptical doctor. “He’s like, ‘It doesn’t look like melanoma, but it is melanoma.”
Ryan confirmed that she had gone through the procedure to have the mole removed completely and she urged others to have their moles checked.
Melanoma is a malignant skin cancer tumour which can spread quickly. A new mole or a change in an existing mole can be a symptom and members of the public are encouraged to seek medical help if moles are sore, bleeding, itchy or crusty. The primary cause of melanoma is ultraviolet light, present in sunlight.
Ryan said she did not believe the NHS would have removed the mole on her arm, saying she was only able to get the issue resolved by going to a private clinic in South Kensington, where she paid £1,000 to have it removed.
“It just feels crazy to me, like what could have happened if I hadn’t been my own advocate – and I will continue to be my own advocate,” she said. “If I hadn’t pushed, if I had taken that good answer the first time and walked away, then I would have had melanoma just growing and spreading in my arm. And I would say, ‘Oh no, the doctor says it’s fine, it’s fine,’ and god knows how far that would have gone.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Ryan said: “The melanoma thing from my podcast got picked up with added commentary like, ‘takes a swipe at the NHS’. It’s all fine, it’s not a big deal, so don’t stress.”
“And one more thing, it’s not a battle. There’s no battle. The battle is done. I had a mole removed. It came back melanoma, very early melanoma, it’s fine.”
