{"id":578,"date":"2025-03-21T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T14:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.troop956.com\/?p=578"},"modified":"2025-04-17T19:25:28","modified_gmt":"2025-04-17T19:25:28","slug":"a-mole-on-my-24-year-olds-leg-started-bleeding-it-was-deadly-melanoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.troop956.com\/index.php\/2025\/03\/21\/a-mole-on-my-24-year-olds-leg-started-bleeding-it-was-deadly-melanoma\/","title":{"rendered":"A mole on my 24-year-old\u2019s leg started bleeding \u2013 it was deadly melanoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"Marie\t<\/div>
Marie (left) with daughter Natalie (right) (Picture: Marie Devereux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019ll never forget the day my life changed forever. The day I lost my daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was November 11, 2022. I was with Natalie, by her bedside in hospital, when she passed away from melanoma<\/a>. She was only 28.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

My heart was, and still is, broken. But I am doing all I can to make sure we continue to honour her one final request: That she will always be remembered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalie was a beautiful daughter. She was always cheerful and funny. She was a wonderful sister to Nick (who is non-verbal and classically autistic<\/a>) and the two of them truly had a special bond.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was also an incredible friend and an outstanding teacher. Her students adored her but really she had a huge impact on everyone who she came into contact with.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\tFind out more\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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You can support Marie\u2019s <\/em>fundraising in memory of Natalie<\/em><\/a>, or find out more about The Banham Marsden March <\/em>here.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Mostly, my girl was kind. She took part in many charity challenges, including a skydive, the Three Peaks Challenge<\/a> and a half marathon. She was generous, not just with money and fundraising, but with her time and love.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

When she told me that a mole on her leg (that she\u2019d always had) had started bleeding in July 2018, I was worried.\u00a0<\/p>\n

We were just about to go on a week-long holiday to France, but I insisted we get it sorted before we left. I secured her a GP appointment for the following morning. The doctor examined the mole, and I did my best to reassure Natalie it would all be OK.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Marie\t<\/div>
Natalie was terrified of the word \u2018cancer\u2019 and of what might lie ahead (Picture: Marie Devereux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, while we were away in France, we got a phone call to say Natalie would need further investigations when she came home. By the end of August, she\u2019d had the mole removed and it was sent off for testing.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

A couple of weeks later, we were told she needed to come back into the hospital to speak with the doctor. We knew then it wasn\u2019t going to be an \u2018everything is fine\u2019 meeting, but as scared as we both were, we tried to stay positive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sitting in their office, the consultant told us that it was melanoma \u2013 a type of skin cancer<\/a> that can spread to other parts of the body \u2013 and my world stopped. <\/p>\n

Natalie was 24. She\u2019d been on holidays abroad in the sun but she had never been on a sunbed<\/a>, nor had she ever burnt herself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Understandably, Natalie was terrified of the word \u2018cancer\u2019 and of what might lie ahead. But she was also determined to stay strong.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Surgery was needed to remove any remaining cancer cells around the area where her mole had once been and doctors told her she would be closely monitored with regular scans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For a while, they continuously came up clear and life continued as normal. Then in December 2019, a scan showed a new lesion in her lung.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Marie\t<\/div>
Marie and Natalie at the The Banham Marsden March in 2022 (Picture: Marie Devereux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I remember Natalie turning to me with tears in her eyes and saying, \u2018Mum, it\u2019s now Stage 4\u2019. Lost for words, we hugged each other tightly and decided we were in this together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was referred to The Royal Marsden, a world-leading cancer centre, for radiotherapy, consisting of three doses over three consecutive weeks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By the third week, scans showed that the lung lesion had significantly shrunk. We were ecstatic \u2013 the radiotherapy had worked. Everything was looking positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalie continued to have regular monitoring scans and then, sadly, a year later, a new lung lesion was detected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This time, she was treated with targeted therapy, where the proteins that control how cancer cells grow, divide, and spread are directly targeted. This was administered in the form of a tablet every day. <\/p>\n

For 18 months, things were once again fine and there were no lesions present on her scans. But then the cancer returned a third time, leaving immunotherapy as her only option.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Marie\t<\/div>
Marie with some of Natalie\u2019s close friends at the Banham Marsden March (Picture: Marie Devereux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Unlike chemotherapy, which uses drugs to target and kill fast-growing cells, immunotherapy uses the body\u2019s immune system to target cancerous cells. Natalie would begin having a combined dose of two drugs, every three weeks.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was amazing, never once complaining. She carried on with life and even continued to go back to work.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She and I took part in The Banham Marsden March in May 2022, which saw us walk 15 miles together and raise just over \u00a32,000. Crossing that finish line with my daughter will forever be one of my most special memories now. Natalie vowed to complete it every year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, just as she began her immunotherapy treatment that September, new lesions were detected on her brain and liver. The melanoma was attacking hard and fast, and Natalie began to deteriorate.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

She was taken ill at home, with worrying signs she could have swelling on the brain. We rushed her to the critical care unit, where doctors managed to get her stable. After a few days, however, we were told they couldn\u2019t make her better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Natalie was amazingly brave and didn\u2019t cry, complain or get angry, but accepted her fate.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\"Marie\t<\/div>
Natalie\u2019s friends commemorated her with signs and pictures (Picture: Marie Devereux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tChecking for skin cancer\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
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Dr Sagar Patel, a dermatology specialist at MyHealthcare Clinic, shares his advice on checking your moles. <\/p>\n