Swim-a-Marathon

THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE KINDLY DONATED! WE COMPLETED OUR MARATHON SWIM ON SUNDAY - THE DAY WAS A REAL SUCCESS! Please see the gallery for photos! Sponsorship is still being accepted :)

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In September last year, after seeing a poster campaign, I visited my GP to have a mole looked at. She sent me to the hospital to see a dermatologist for a second opinion. Later that week, I had a mole removed from my leg, it seemed like a common thing to have done, and I didn't think anything of it.

I returned to the hospital for the routine results appointment and the dermatologist broke the news to me that the mole was cancerous, and there were signs of changes within the cells that could suggest it was spreading. It was a malignant melanoma (a form of skin cancer). I couldn't take anything else in, it was a shock. I couldn't and still can't believe it happened to me, and at only 24 years old.

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THANK YOU TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE KINDLY DONATED! WE COMPLETED OUR MARATHON SWIM ON SUNDAY - THE DAY WAS A REAL SUCCESS! Please see the gallery for photos! Sponsorship is still being accepted :)

_______________________________________

In September last year, after seeing a poster campaign, I visited my GP to have a mole looked at. She sent me to the hospital to see a dermatologist for a second opinion. Later that week, I had a mole removed from my leg, it seemed like a common thing to have done, and I didn't think anything of it.

I returned to the hospital for the routine results appointment and the dermatologist broke the news to me that the mole was cancerous, and there were signs of changes within the cells that could suggest it was spreading. It was a malignant melanoma (a form of skin cancer). I couldn't take anything else in, it was a shock. I couldn't and still can't believe it happened to me, and at only 24 years old.

After a couple of weeks of consultation between doctors, it was decided that the best treatment was to remove a little more tissue, to be certain that all the cancerous cells had been removed.

So I count myself as one of the lucky ones, after minor surgery it was gone, and all I'm left with is a small scar and 5 years of check ups. Some people aren't so lucky.

Malignant melanomas are the 5th most common type of cancer in the UK, and the number of people getting it is now 4 times higher than it was 30 years ago. The incidence rises with age.

Cancer Research UK is conducting a research project on skin cancer, and to support this and raise as much money as possible me and 3 amazing friends have decided to swim a marathon. That's right on Sunday 7th April 2013, we will be swimming the full 26.2 miles between us, totalling up 10km each.

If you can show your support by donating, we would really appreciate it, every little helps!

For more information on the project itself, please visit: http://myprojects.cancerresearchuk.org/projects/skin-cancer-all-angles

For more information about melanoma skin cancer, please visit: http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/type/melanoma/

Big thank you in advance!

Amy & fellow swimmers - Ella, Jeff and Tim

x

p.s. If you are able to sponsor us, unfortunately we can't see anymore than your first names on the fundraising page, and therefore don't know who to thank - so THANK YOU! :) and leave your full name in a comment if you'd like!

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