Margaret’s melanoma caught early – with a little help from her friend

PICTURE: Margaret, left, with Ann in the York Against Cancer shop

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A York Against Cancer worker’s potentially deadly melanoma was caught early when a fellow volunteer spotted it on her arm.

And Margaret Redfern’s cancer was swiftly diagnosed thanks to new technology bought for GPs by us.

Upper Poppleton residents Ann and Margaret have run our shop in York Hospital on Friday afternoons for eight years, becoming firm friends in the process.

Ann had noticed a mole on the back of Margaret’s arm. “I had seen it for a while, and I asked my daughter, ‘Do you think I should tell her to go to the doctor?’ and she said that I should.”

Margaret said: “Ann was nattering to me about this mole on my arm that I couldn’t see. She kept on about it so in the end I thought I would go to the GP.”

Margaret’s GP examined her with a dermatoscope, bought by us for GP practices in the Vale of York.

It takes clear, detailed pictures of suspicious lesions for doctors to send electronically to dermatologists for analysis.

The pictures help to quickly distinguish between patients with benign conditions and those who need hospital assessment and/or treatment. Margaret was called in to have her mole removed.

“I was told it was a melanoma, but it wasn’t too deep, it was on the low scale,” Margaret said. “They took a lymph node and apparently it was clear. I have to have three-monthly checks now for five years; I have told Ann that it’s all her fault!”

Ann said: “I was really surprised when I heard that it was cancer. I didn’t think it would be, but you just never know. It’s great that she is clear now.”

Dr Dan Cottingham, a local GP and NHS Vale of York Clinical Commissioning Group’s Macmillan Cancer Lead, said: “The CCG has been working with York Against Cancer since 2016 and is extremely grateful for their involvement and financial support in supplying 57 dermatoscopes for use at GP surgeries in the Vale of York area.”

Dr Andy Muinonen-Martin, consultant dermatologist and skin cancer lead at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, spearheaded the project.

 “Skin cancer is common and we are in the middle of an epidemic,” he said. “It was great that Ann was able to talk to her friend Margaret about the mark, particularly because it was in a difficult place for her to see.

“By bringing it to Margaret’s attention she was able to go to her GP, who was then able to take high-quality images through the dermatoscope and send them through and she has a very good prognosis. Had Ann not spotted it, it might not have been seen until much later and it could have been much more serious.”

Professor Steve Leveson, for York Against Cancer, said:  “We were happy to be able to fund the dermatoscopes as they always struck us as a good, value-for-money investment.”