Skin cancer is no joke: I’m one of the lucky ones but the threat of malignant melanoma still impacts my life
The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, has been diagnosed with malignant melanoma, just six months after treatment for breast cancer. She had several moles removed during breast reconstruction surgery, with one of them being identified as cancerous.
Skin cancer rates in the UK are on the rise, with around 16,700 new cases per year. It’s now the fifth most common cancer in the country and the cause of around 2,600 deaths annually, according to Cancer Research statistics.
Though malignant melanoma isn’t the most common form of skin cancer – for every one case of malignant melanoma, up to 10 non-malignant melanoma skin cancers are diagnosed – it causes nearly as many deaths as all the other skin cancers combined.
Some of the world’s best-known celebrities have experienced malignant melanoma, including , and Ewan McGregor. The duchess’s diagnosis is yet another poignant reminder of the dangers of the disease, which affects people of
