'I got stage three cancer thanks to Covid restrictions and a 1990s habit'

A woman who never thought she was at risk of skin cancer developed the disease after having to wait in a car park for hours when her father was in hospital during Covid restrictions.

A freckle that had been on Louise Brown's back for decades changed after being in direct sunshine for hours. Louise, 44, said: "I'm not someone who has any moles. So skin cancer, melanoma, anything like that – it never crossed my mind that I was at risk.

"My dad was in hospital in July 2021 and only one person was allowed to be with him, due to Covid restrictions. I remember I was out in the car park for hours, and when I got home my husband noticed my back was really burnt."

Louise's husband, Kris, grew concerned when he applied cream to her burnt skin and noticed the freckle had become raised and darkened. With Covid restrictions affecting GP appointments, Louise, from West Dunbartonshire, was unable to see her doctor face to face, but after exchanging photos her doctor agreed to refer her to a consultant urgently to reassure her there was nothing to worry about. However, a clerical error led to a delay in diagnosis.

"Eight weeks later, I contacted Dermatology as I hadn't heard from them. I assumed this was as a result of the backlog," said Louise, who works full-time as an officer at a union.

"They asked me to attend the next day and advised that the referral was marked, in error, as routine and not urgent, and by that point, the freckle had been bleeding."

Within 24 hours of the consultation, Louise had the lesion removed under local anaesthetic and following pathology testing, she was given the bombshell news that not only was the freckle cancerous, but it had advanced to stage three. "I was diagnosed the week of my 40th birthday," she recalls.

"I had lost my mum to ovarian cancer, at the height of the pandemic. She was admitted to hospital and was on her own for two and a half months before she passed away. That cruel part of life that had happened just the year before. To go to that appointment, which I also had to attend on my own, and be told it was stage three melanoma, you could have knocked me over with a feather."

Cancer Research UK reports that over 17,000 people are diagnosed with melanoma in the UK each year. After her initial diagnosis, Louise underwent wider excision surgery in December 2021 removing further tissue surrounding the original site.

No sign of cancer was found within the removed tissue and she began targeted treatment, taking medications designed to prevent the cancer's growth. However, a routine check-up detected cancer in the lymph nodes beneath both armpits.

"I had surgery in September 2022 to remove my lymph nodes," she explains. "When people saw me coming out of hospital with slits up to my armpits and drains on either side, the reality of the extensive surgery sets in. I'd been through a lot more than just having a little bit of skin removed.

"I had another recurrence which was detected in April 2023, this time it came back behind my breast. Even after that diagnosis, some people would ask, 'What do you mean it came back behind your breast? It's skin cancer.' Or after getting a brain scan, people would ask why I was doing that, not realising it's to check for melanoma in my brain. It does bed itself in the body."

Louise also underwent immunotherapy treatment to battle the disease after reacting to her initial targeted treatment drugs – but this was also gruelling, causing agony throughout her body as her joints and internal organs became inflamed by the medication. After her most recent surgery in 2023, she has been told there is No Evidence of Disease [NED] and, since finishing treatment in May 2024, is beginning to feel more like herself – meaning she is able to be a mum to her young son, Brendan again.

While Louise can't be sure if the sunburn she endured in 2021 was the catalyst for her health battle, she does fear that the use of sunbeds in her youth was a contributing factor. "My mum was ginger and pale skinned. She was covered in moles, and whenever we holidayed when I was a kid, she was neurotic about sun cream," she says.

"She always lectured me about sun beds when I was older. I still remember the horror on her face when she came back from work one day and saw a wooden sun bed in my bedroom that I'd hired for a week." Louise admits she dismissed her mum's concerns, and her friends were also fans of tanning salons.

"It was the 90s, and friends and I would walk to the local town centre on a Wednesday to go for a sun bed," she explains. "It was an eight-minute holiday. That's what we liked to call it. But if I could tell my younger self anything, it would be to avoid them like the plague."

New data released this month by Melanoma Focus has shown that 24% of people in are using sunbeds at least once per year and 21% at least once per month. Meanwhile, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has classified ultraviolet (UV) radiation from commercial sunbeds as a Type 1 carcinogen – putting them in line with asbestos and smoking as a known cause of cancer in humans.

After everything she's been through, Louise has followed her late mum's example and is unapologetically speaking out about the dangers of UV exposure. "I was on holiday with my husband and friends last year, and I was sitting with my glasses on, under a parasol, factor 50 on from head to toe, 'You're burning you need more cream on you. The Wee one needs more cream.' I am that person now," she says.

"If it prevents someone else going through what I have been through, it's worth it. I already know a handful of people who have had moles checked or removed after seeing stuff that I've been putting out online. Some of them have been absolutely fine, whilst others are very early stage or even pre-cancerous."

Louise adds, "Some people seem to downplay melanoma as 'just skin cancer,' but I cannot stress enough how dangerous it is. I received treatment at The Beatson [West of Scotland Cancer Centre] and I have to thank my oncologist there, my dermatologist, plastic surgeon and all their teams at the centre for helping save my life. I wouldn't be here without them. And I hope sharing my story helps save someone else from going through this."

For information and support on melanoma, visit call the charity's free and confidential helpline: 0808 801 0777