A woman who spotted an 'ugly mark' on her toenail which she initially covered up with makeup later learned it was actually cancer.
40-year-old Leeds woman Laura Jennings thought she'd got a bruise from accidentally kicking something with her toe, and reckoned it would probably go away by itself.
In the meantime she painted over the toenail with nail varnish, but when it came time to remove it part of the toenail disintegrated away which she realised was not a good sign.
Thinking that people lose toenails all the time she wasn't that worried and got on the phone to her GP, as due to pandemic disruptions stretching into 2022 she couldn't get a face-to-face appointment.
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She sent pictures of her marked toe to her GP and was diagnosed with a fungal nail infection, while part of the toenail was sent off for further testing.
When the tests came back negative for signs of infection, Laura was told to continue on with her fungal nail treatment and was told it could take a long time for a new nail to grow so she wasn't worried when things hadn't got better after several months.
However, by Easter 2023 it was looking even worse and she decided she needed to have a face-to-face appointment about this with someone.
According to The Sun she said she knew the main warning signs of cancer people are warned about such as blood in your stool or finding a lump, but 'no one ever tells you to look out for this'.
Once she finally got that in-person meeting with her GP she could tell they 'knew straight away that this could be something much more serious'.
Fortunately her doctor had learned about a rare type of skin cancer called 'acral lentiginous melanoma' where signs can often show up on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet, or under your nails.
"I just went into a state of shock," Laura said as a month after the GP appointment she was going in for an operation, and has been in for other surgeries to remove cancer cells, a lymph node and part of her toe.
She added: "My legs were shaking. My whole body was shaking. I'm a solo parent. I've got a little boy and a lot of living still to do.
"You know, anyone that receives a cancer diagnosis, your life changes in a second."
Surgeries successfully removed the cancer and further tests showed that it had not spread elsewhere in her body, though she'll still need to go in for regular check-ups for a few years and even then it's not a sure thing that it will never return.
Laura is happy with the way her toe has healed, and reckons it's 'a daily reminder of how precious life is' as she said that 'life isn't a dress rehearsal'.
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Joe Harker