WE all have marks on our bodies that have been with us for years, but one mum has revealed how what she thought was a birthmark – was actually cancer.
Rachael Rollisson noticed the little mark on her head years ago, but didn’t think anything of it.
Rachael Rollisson first noticed the mark on her face in 2015, it is seen just above her eyebrow on the left
Nhe 32-year-old said the mark was more noticeable when she would exercise
After being referred to a dermatologist, Rachel was told she had skin cancer and went for a procedure to have it removed
The 32-year-old had been training to continue her title of twenty-time British skipping champion and noticed that when her face became red from exercising, the mark remained white.
After falling pregnant, Rachel said the mark started to become more prominent, which prompted her to get it checked.
The fitness-business owner had to have a section of her skin removed in order for medics to test it.
It was then, they told Rachel, who lives in Redditch, Worcestershire that she had basal cell carcinoma – the most common type of skin cancer.
Basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is a non-melanoma skin cancer which usually develops in the outermost layer of the skin, known as the epidermis.
It accounts for 75 per cent of all skin cancers.
Rachel now wants to warn people of the dangers of skin cancers.
She said: “I first noticed it a few years ago but stupidly I didn’t get it checked out until recently.
“I thought it was a birthmark to start off with so I didn’t really think anything of it, just because I’d had it for so long and it never grew from what I saw anyway.
“But when I fell pregnant last year I really started really noticing a difference – it started looking more prominent even when I wasn’t exercising and it looked bigger around the edges so it was growing.
“I had this test where they basically took a section of it out like a hole punch and tested it and the results came back that it was low grade skin cancer.”
Rachel said she new unless it was removed that it would just keep growing, but said she didn’t want to get it removed as she was worried it would cause issues with her pregnancy.
She said: “After finding out what it was and having to wait to get it removed it was playing on my mind quite a bit.
“While I had to wait to have the surgery I was worrying about it spreading – I’d already had it for a few years and I just kept thinking how much bigger is it going to get in that time.
“I knew the bigger the area was the bigger the scar would be and it was already quite a big area. If I’d left it any longer it could have gone into my eyebrow or hairline which isn’t nice to think.
“But it was definitely worth it to have my baby here and healthy and both of us are okay now.”
Rachel said she first noticed the mark on her face in 2015 but brushed it off for years until it started to look more prominent during her pregnancy last year.
At the beginning of 2021, a suspicious mole on her mum’s back was diagnosed as low grade skin cancer, which also encouraged Rachael to get her mark checked out.
She visited her GP in February 2021 and was referred to a dermatologist in May.
The NHS waiting time for a procedure like Rachel’s is two years.
Because of this, she decided to go private for the Mohs surgery which is where a specialist cuts away the affected area and further another layer of skin to make sure they get all of the cancerous cells.
Four months after, Racehl and her husband Adam Rollisson, 33, welcomed their baby James Rollisson, she had surgery at Solihull Hospital, on January 15th.
Rachael said: “I was fully awake for the surgery and that was the scariest thing.
“They injected the area with local anaesthetic so I had quite a few injections in my head to numb it and that was probably the most painful part of it.
“They cut the skin away and take it away for a few hours to test it and make sure they’ve got all of it.
“They got it all in one go the first time so I was quite lucky and then I went back in for an hour and a half to have it sewn back up.”
Rachel said that that had been the worst bit as there had been a lot of pulling and tugging of the skin.
She added: “The feeling of the skin being pulled over is going to haunt me.
“They allowed me to take a picture of the hole left by the section they took out before they sewed it back up again so that was quite scary seeing that.
“I didn’t think it would be that big of a surgery so when I came out of the surgery I was quite upset because the scar was so big but I’m just relieved I’m in the clear now.”
Rachel highlighted that the diagnosis had been a shock as she isn’t someone who would describe herself as a sun worshipper.
After her experience she said ‘it can happen to anyone’.
Rachael said: “I’m not really a sun-worshipper but I do tan really easily. I wasn’t in the sun often at all, not enough to expect to have something like this anyway.
“It’s scary because it shows that it really can happen to anyone, even if you’re not a sun-worshipper.
“I’ve always been quite careful with suncream but I’ll definitely be even more careful now, especially with the baby.
“I would just advise people to get anything different on their skin checked out definitely.”
Rachel had been worried about how the surgery would impact her pregnancy so waited until she had her son, James
Rachel has now been left with a large scar on her head after having the surgery to remove the skin cancer
