![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/i-used-sunbeds-as-a-teen-and-now-have-cancer/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/1_I-used-sun-beds-as-a-teen-and-now-I-have-stage-4-cancer-theres-no-such-thing-as-a-healthy-tan.jpg&description=Mum-of-three Tanya Ballan was diagnosed with the serious form of skin cancer after suffering from back pain and a swollen stomach before discovering she had stage four cancer in both breasts A mum-of-three with stage four melanoma has urged others to be careful in the sun after spending her teenage years having sunbeds. Tanya Ballan was diagnosed with the serious form of skin cancer after suffering from back pain and a swollen stomach. The 36-year-old, who lives in County Durham, also found a lump in her breast. She discovered she had stage four cancer in both breasts, the lining of the stomach, the bone and the lymph nodes, reports Chronicle Live. Tanya, who is mum to Sonny, 16, Olivia, 12, and Eliza, four, said it was initially thought to have began as breast cancer. However further tests revealed it had developed from melanoma. The former florist said recent results have shown that the cancer has now spread to her brain and is present in her tonsil and one side of her tongue. Tanya said: "It was devastating, I just felt like my whole world was falling apart. "I am on treatment and it's still progressing, it's quite scary. My partner and the kids keep me going on a daily basis. If it wasn't for them, and my family, I would have folded a lot time ago. The support off them on a daily basis has been unbelievable." According to the NHS, melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other areas of the body. Symptoms include the appearance of a new mole or the change in an existing mole. Tanya said she did not notice any symptoms of melanoma before her diagnosis in July 2020. She said it wasn't until she began suffering from pain and swelling that she realised she needed to be checked out. She was diagnosed following a CT scan and, due to covid-19 rules, she had to tell her partner Andrew Smith, 39, in the car park of the hospital. She went on to have 21 litres of fluid drained from her stomach over three weeks. Tanya said: "I looked like I had put half a stone o){kind=link}
Mum-of-three Tanya Ballan was diagnosed with the serious form of skin cancer after suffering from back pain and a swollen stomach before discovering she had stage four cancer in both breasts
A mum-of-three with stage four melanoma has urged others to be careful in the sun after spending her teenage years having sunbeds.
Tanya Ballan was diagnosed with the serious form of skin cancer after suffering from back pain and a swollen stomach. The 36-year-old, who lives in County Durham, also found a lump in her breast. She discovered she had stage four cancer in both breasts, the lining of the stomach, the bone and the lymph nodes, reports Chronicle Live.
Tanya, who is mum to Sonny, 16, Olivia, 12, and Eliza, four, said it was initially thought to have began as breast cancer. However further tests revealed it had developed from melanoma.
The former florist said recent results have shown that the cancer has now spread to her brain and is present in her tonsil and one side of her tongue. Tanya said: “It was devastating, I just felt like my whole world was falling apart.