A MAN was diagnosed with skin cancer after his mum spotted a suspect mole during a family Zoom quiz.
Kieran Drinkwater, 34, first dismissed his mother’s worries as they played a game online during a lockdown in November last year.
But he later decided to visit medics – and was told the lesion had turned cancerous.
The civil servant, who lives in Northern Ireland with wife Emma and children Eliza, five, and Ivy, two, says the mole had always been on his temple.
However, in February this year, he compared it to an old photo and saw how much it had grown.
He then had it removed.
Kieran told Belfast Live: “The mole was removed and sent to pathology, then four weeks later the doctor informed me it was cancerous. It was really scary.
“Your mind never forgets when they tell you those words, ‘You’ve got cancer.’”
After surgery, he was given the all-clear. He didn’t need either chemotherapy or radiotherapy during his recovery.
“I was very lucky. I was able to by-pass all the Covid hold-ups and go privately,” he said.
Kieran says he’ll always be grateful his sharp-eyed mum spotted something was wrong all the way from her home in Blackpool.
‘IT WAS SCARY’
“She just made a very innocent comment,” he said.
“She was talking about a mole on my temple and I just replied that I’d had it for years, and she said, ‘I’ve never noticed it before.’
“Then, I was looking in the mirror in February 2021 and I realised it looked a little bigger.
“So, I went and looked at an old photograph and it was literally just a speck back then, so I realised I needed to get it seen.”
He’s now raising money for Stand Up To Cancer with a TikTok challenge, during which he hopes to begin with a button and eventually trade his way to a £1.2million Bugatti.
And he warned: “I can’t stress enough how important it is to get things like a mole that’s changed shape checked out as soon as possible.
“I’m so grateful to the NHS. Everyone who is part of it has been working so hard and they were amazing throughout my entire journey.”
- To donate and trade, visit button2bugatti.com
