Helen's story - video transcript

Helen Burt - London

I think it's a common misconception that young people don't get skin cancer, but I'm living proof that you do. I'm an air hostess, basically everybody's brown in the industry.

[Footage of Helen on holiday in the sea with a starfish]

When I was away I used to sit out in the sun a lot more, I started using sunbeds and had a base tan pretty much all year round.

Malignant melanoma is really serious cancer. I don't think people think that it’s as dangerous as it is.

[Footage of Helen and her sister]

My sister's a nurse so she's on at me about health things anyway. There was a mole on my back and she said "it looks a bit strange, I think you need to get that checked out". And I said, "yes of course I will" but didn't. Then I think about a year later, I was at home and I had a sun top on, and she said, "I think it’s got worse".

[Footage of Helen’s mole]

It did look really strange. You could pick it out from all of the other moles on me, so I went to my local walk in centre because I didn’t have a doctor at the time. Straight away he said "yes it does look a bit strange".

I had my referral a couple of weeks later at the main hospital and then they cut the mole out. They were really nice to me and talked to me through it. Unfortunately the doctor said "I’ve got to tell you that it’s a malignant melanoma". I had to stop him and say, "what does that mean" and he had to say, "we found cancerous cells in the mole" and that was when it hit me. I was devastated, I was crying constantly, I didn’t know what was going to happen, I was scared.

[Footage of Helen's scar post-surgery]

The nicest looking scar is a straight line. To be honest I didn't expect it to be as big as it was and I was quite upset the first time I saw it.

I just want to kick myself really because I think if I'd caught it a lot earlier maybe I wouldn't have gone through the amount of surgery that I have and I wouldn’t have all the scars that I do. Even wearing a sun top, you can see everything and people look at it.

[Footage of Helen's scar visible when she wears a sun top]

It could have been a lot worse, you could potentially die from it, and at the end of the day it's a cancer. I think it will always be with me in the sense that I’m always going to be checking my moles even when the appointments with the doctors stop.

Finding skin cancer early saves lives

Find out more about the signs of skin cancer and how to reduce your risk - www.sunsmart.org.uk (The SunSmart campaign is funded by the UK Health Departments)