Katherine Ryan has revealed she has been diagnosed with melanoma as she discussed her skin cancer diagnosis in a new update. The 41-year-old comedian shared the heartbreaking news of the skin cancer – which she has been diagnosed with for a second time – on a new episode of her podcast.
The star said she was uncomfortable after spotting a mole on her arm and went to visit a doctor. She was initially given the all-clear and Katherine explained: “I know you should never google things but I’m actually really worried. Normally I’m that positive person. I think it’s really easy to take a diagnosis of ‘you’re healthy’ and walk away.”
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Katherine has been diagnosed with melanoma (
Image:
Getty Images)
She added on her Telling Everybody podcast: “But the mole kept changing, I know a lot about melanoma, I had stage two melanoma as a very young woman – aged 21 – on my leg, I’ve spoken about that before. Even that didn’t traditionally look like melanoma. But fair enough, it had some discolouration and asymmetry. It was flat, it wasn’t that big but it was melanoma. It is a deadly form of skin cancer and it does spread quickly.
“I just thought that this mole wasn’t right. It’s on my arm. I showed pictures of it on my social media and this is the whole from having it removed. I went in and I wanted the doctor to remove a bigger piece of it and stitch it up in a straight line.
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“But even when he looked at it, he was like, ‘it’s not melanoma, it’s totally fine, I will do a shave and send it away for testing’.” The doctor soon called her back and confirmed it was melanoma.
Katherine had melanoma on her leg when she was 21 (
Image:
Getty Images for BAFTA)
“It’s early melanoma and [the doctor] was shocked because it doesn’t look like melanoma but it is. He said ‘you need to come back on Monday’, which I don’t have time on Monday but luckily he gave me some time in the afternoon.” The star will be going in to get an ‘extra removal’ so doctors can make sure ‘they get all the borders’.
“It’s crazy what could have happened if I didn’t continue to be my own advocate and I will continue to be my own advocate… If I hadn’t pushed, if I had taken that good answer the first time and walked away then I would have had melanoma just growing and spreading on my arm.”
Katherine revealed she first ‘starting making noise’ about the mole on her arm in 2022 and messaged her private dermatologist but there was no follow up. She also contacted a clinic in her area but she couldn’t ‘be f**ked’ to go in for a consultation because she was busy.
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The star previously opened up about having a “golf-ball sized” lump on her leg. Speaking to The Guardian, she admitted she was too young to take it in at the time. “I just joked that it was free lipo,” she said.
At the time, she said she has her moles regularly checked and wryly added to the publication: “If you’re prone to skin cancer, then living in the UK is the best thing you can do.”
