What Christopher Capstick first assumed was a stubborn insect bite on his back turned out to be advanced skin cancer.
The 41-year-old was diagnosed with stage four melanoma in March 2023 after months of trying to get answers about a mark that appeared while he was on holiday in Greece the previous year.
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can grow from a new or changing mole or lesion, and it can spread to other parts of the body, including the brain. Advanced cases can be difficult to treat, but immunotherapy has become an important option for some patients.
For around six months after returning home, Christopher repeatedly sought medical advice because the supposed bite was not healing. He said doctors believed it was a cyst, but he became increasingly concerned as it began to change in both colour and size.
Eventually, after Christopher continued pushing for further action, the lump was removed. That was when medics discovered it was not a cyst at all, but a tumour.
Charity worker Christopher said:
“When they eventually removed what they thought was the cyst, it came out as pieces of string and mush and within 48 hours they diagnosed me with melanoma.
“My wife and I had just got married the year before and I was sat there with my pregnant wife being told that I have a 15% chance of surviving – it was just devastating.
“All I wanted to do was to get my arm strong enough to hold Nylah, now two, when she was born.
“I have three young kids and that’s a massive motivation for me – it’s what drives me to get to a stage that all my kids remember who I am. It feels like more of a mental battle rather than a physical battle.”
Alongside the changing lump, Christopher said he was also frequently picking up minor illnesses, which added to his feeling that something more serious was going on.
He said:
“The doctors said it was a cyst and over six months I kept going back, but they kept saying it was a cyst,” he told Sell Us Your Story.
“They eventually removed it when I asked and they realised it wasn’t a cyst and it was actually a tumour.
“And because of the delay it had spread.”
Following the diagnosis, Christopher underwent 13 months of immunotherapy. By the beginning of 2025, he had been told he was cancer-free.
After that encouraging update, he and his wife Lauren planned several family holidays with their three children, Isabella, six, Mila, 10, and Nylah, including a visit to Florida.
Those plans were later put on hold after doctors found six tumours on his brain and another six elsewhere in his body.
Christopher was then told the cancer was terminal and that he had 12 months to live.
There has since been a positive development, however, with doctors reporting that only one tumour remains on his brain.
He said:
“I was a week away from having brain surgery to laser them but the final scan before showed five had amazingly disappeared – they said they’d never seen that before,” he added.
Christopher’s daughter Isabella has also written a children’s book aimed at helping young readers cope when a parent or loved one is seriously unwell.
A GoFundMe has been set up to bring Daddy’s Little Monsters into every cancer centre.
In a further update shared in July 2026, Isabella’s book was described as a way of helping other children understand a parent’s terminal cancer diagnosis without being overwhelmed by the word itself. The family has said they refer to the illness as “daddy’s little monsters” at home.
Christopher’s story has also continued to resonate online because it underlines how easily melanoma can be mistaken for a harmless blemish, bite or cyst, especially when it is first found in an unusual place on the body.