Tanning addict with stage four cancer admits she was ‘stupid’ after getting back on the sunbeds… despite already surviving disease seven years earlier
- EXCLUSIVE: Carmen Oakes, 48, could not give up her 30-year sunbed habit
A tanning addict who now has stage four cancer admits she was ‘stupid’ to mis-use her ‘second chance at life’ by refusing to ditch her almost-weekly sunbed sessions – despite having already survived the disease once.
Carmen Oakes was told a red-coloured mole on her back was cancerous in June 2014 but a successful op meant she was given the all-clear.
However despite the scare, the 48-year-old couldn’t give up her 30-year sunbed habit and ‘played with fire’ by maintaining tanning sessions almost every week to keep her golden glow.
In January a four-inch mass was found in her right lung and she was diagnosed with stage four metastatic melanoma.
The mum-of-two now regrets not heeding her first warning and blames sunbeds for her devastating diagnosis – warning others to ‘avoid ruining their skin’ with their powerful UV rays.
Carmen, from Portsmouth, Hampshire, said: ‘I was playing with fire, but me being stupid, I thought ‘oh well, they’ve just cut it out’.
‘I had a second chance in life so I still went back on [tanning beds].
Carmen Oakes was told a red-coloured mole on her back was cancerous in June 2014 but a successful op meant she was given the all-clear
Despite the scare, the 48-year-old couldn’t give up her 30-year sunbed habit and ‘played with fire’ by maintaining tanning sessions almost every week to keep her golden glow (Pictured with her partner Ian Jones)
The grandmother found out the red-coloured mole on her back was cancerous in June 2014
She successfully had the mark removed from her back and was given the all clear
‘I was naughty because I’d just had melanoma in my back. I should never have gone back on them.
‘It got to the stage where me and my hubby were going away for Christmas or going out for a night out or to a spa and we’d have the odd sunbed.
‘Please don’t think a tan is more important than having your life. Those sunbeds damage your skin. They age you and they kill you.
‘There’s so many people that use these sunbeds at such a young age and they don’t realise that they give you cancer.
‘They are not safe and please do not listen to what they say in the shops.’
Carmen began using sunbeds at age 15 when she and her sister would hire them for around six-week periods to enjoy hour-long sessions.
She says beds have become more intense since then so has been visiting salons around once a week for the past 20 years to enjoy 10-minute stints.
Her 26-year-old daughter, Chloe Jones, noticed a mole on her mum’s back in June 2014 and urged her to go and get it checked out.
The mole was removed a month later but tests confirmed it was cancerous so they made a second incision to check if it had spread.
Further tests gave her the all-clear but the worrying experience didn’t stop her returning to using sunbeds.
Carmen began using sunbeds at age 15 when she and her sister would hire them for around six-week periods to enjoy hour-long sessions (Pictured with her partner Ian Jones)
She says beds have become more intense since she started using them as a teen, so has been visiting salons around once a week for the past 20 years to enjoy 10-minute stints
Her 26-year-old daughter, Chloe Jones, (right) noticed a mole on her mum’s back in June 2014 and urged her to go and get it checked out.
The fitness-obsessed grandma complained about pain in her shoulders and her arms to pals in September 2021 but six months of iron supplements didn’t fix her problems.
Blood tests and trips to a rheumatologist didn’t detect couldn’t identify the issue either but intense pain after one of her appointments in January this year led to a horrifying re-diagnosis.
Carmen said: ‘The day after I saw the rheumatologist I woke up and I was in excruciating pain on the left side of my chest.
‘I thought it was a coincidence but I rang my daughter Chloe and told her I’ve got pain in my chest and it’s just really painful.
‘I rang A&E and they told me to come down, so I went that day. They did a chest X-ray and they found that I had fluid around the lung. They weren’t happy to just dismiss me as that.
‘He wanted me to have a fast-track CT scan but I didn’t think anything of it. I just thought it’s probably fluid from when I had COVID in December 2022.’
On January 18 CT scan results showed there was a mass in her left lung and a biopsy on January 24 confirmed it was cancerous.
The following month medics broke the heart-stopping news that her tumour was metastatic melanoma and it had returned from her previous diagnosis.
That day they sadly told Carmen that the tumour could not be removed due to where it was in her lung, as it was attached to her blood vessels and heart chambers.
The fitness-obsessed grandma complained about pain in her shoulders and her arms to pals in September 2021 but six months of iron supplements didn’t fix her problems
Carmen began immunotherapy treatment, which involves the injection of drugs to control the tumour, in March this year which has reduced her tumour to half the size
On January 18 CT scan results showed there was a mass in her left lung and a biopsy on January 24 confirmed it was cancerous
She was told that the tumour could not be removed due to where it was in her lung, as it was attached to her blood vessels and heart chambers
Carmen remains positive as she continues taking part in her gym classes every day
Carmen began immunotherapy treatment, which involves the injection of drugs to control the tumour, in March this year which has reduced her tumour to half the size.
Despite feeling drained following her diagnosis, Carmen remains positive as she continues taking part in her gym classes every day.
Carmen said: ‘Even though I’m supposedly stage four, I still can do all my classes and sometimes I think have they made a mistake because I feel alright?
‘I’ve been alright so far, I think having a positive attitude has really helped me a lot. I’ll do whatever I can to stay alive.
‘You can get fake tans now and they actually make my skin look better.
‘My daughter won’t use a sunbed now. She probably used a few before she had her baby. But when she found out about me getting melanoma, she said she’d never go on one again.
‘You know it’s all very well people saying they don’t burn but you still can get melanoma even if you don’t burn. I’m half Maltese, my mum is from Malta, and I’ve never burnt. It doesn’t matter.
‘You’ve got so many young girls out there. They’re so beautiful and they ruin their skin at such a young age by going on sunbeds and they don’t realise.
‘They start using sunbeds so young but 20 years down the line that cancer comes out.’
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