A young woman has issued a serious warning following her unexpected skin cancer diagnosis at just 29 years old.
Courtney Mangan, faced with an 18 percent chance of survival, was devastated to learn she had been diagnosed with stage 4 skin cancer.
Originally from Australia’s Gold Coast, Courtney had visited her doctor twice, concerned about a mole on her skin.
Her fears were initially dismissed, but it was only after consulting with a skincare specialist that she discovered the grim reality: it was already ‘too late’.
“I had a mole on my back that I never really saw – but my family told me it started to change and urged me to see a doctor,” she recalled.
“The specialist checked my whole body and said everything looked normal but I expressed my concern about the mole on my back so he took a cutting and sent it to pathology.”
In an interview with Daily Mail Australia, Courtney recounted the moment her doctor delivered the news that the mole was a level four melanoma, necessitating a trip to see another specialist in Brisbane.
“I immediately went numb – my uncle had died from melanoma just a few years prior,” Courtney, now 38, said of the moment she was told the news.
“My whole world changed in that moment. I couldn’t think of it as anything other than a death sentence.”
However, at that point, she had not yet received the stage 4 diagnosis.
It was after experiencing additional symptoms that Courtney learned her cancer had progressed to stage 4.
A year after the cancerous mole was removed from her shoulder, Courtney found a lump in her arm.
She also began experiencing pain while eating, initially attributing it to her irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
An endoscopy later revealed a mass in her bowel, and after surgery, Courtney was informed that the cancer had spread to her internal organs, reaching stage four.
Another mass was detected in her thigh, but doctors could not remove it.
Thankfully, Courtney has now been cancer-free for three years, though she admits the fear of recurrence lingers.
“There’s a dark cloud hanging over you all the time,” she added.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.