Hi, I'm here as a mum whose adult son was recently diagnosed with skin cancer. He's been told it's only stage zero - but was previously worse? The stage zero and information that it was previously worse, but his immune system has made it better are all things I had no awareness of previously, and I suppose it should give me comfort that our immune systems are that incredible, but I have been supporting a work colleague /friend the past year who was diagnosed with bladder cancer, and yesterday she told me she has been told she has only months to live - and that is after radical surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and being told just 2 months ago that she was free of cancer. So stage zero doesn't feel like good news for my son now. He also lives in America and is having surgery next week, and he's scared. And I feel useless and scared for my son, and very sad for my friend. I feel a little self-centered messaging, as I'm sure there are many going through far worse, but I feel a little lost and in the need to connect with someone
Thanks for the message. It's non-melenoma, so I was definitely feeling somewhat encouraged by this, but the update about my friend yesterday has slightly destabilise that reassurance, because she was apparently OK just before Christmas. I'm sure I'm panicking unnecessarily, but the C word is scary regardless. What brings you here, if you don't mind me asking?
No totally understandable, the C word can be very scary! I have previously had both melanoma and basal cell carcinoma.
The two main non-melanoma skin cancers are basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. It is almost unheard of for basal cell to spread to other body parts and, although squamous cell can spread, it is rare. Basal cell isn't actually staged in this country, although I'm not sure if they do this in the US, and in any case stage 0 is a very early, very treatable stage to detect skin cancers at.
Here is some info on the different types of skin cancer - I hope this helps to reassure you somewhat.
https://www.macmillan.org.uk/cancer-information-and-support/skin-cancer/types-of-skin-cancer
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