Melanoma Patient Urges South Africans To Be Alert To Symptoms

Source: iAfrica, March 2019

“Even the smallest, seemingly unrelated symptom could be a sign of cancer. You need to know your body and be persistent about having symptoms tested, so you can catch cancer early,” says 36-year-old real estate professional Claire Hodgson, who is currently being treated for metastatic melanoma and has had over 44 tumors removed over the past six months.

Umhlanga resident Hodgson, was diagnosed with melanoma in 2018, after experiencing a series of ‘niggling’ and seemingly minor health complaints for several months. “I was eating clean, getting a lot of exercise, and having all the necessary health checks, but I started getting terribly tired. I wanted to go to bed by seven or eight at night. Then I got ‘flu-like symptoms, aches and pains and swollen glands. I know my body, and I knew something was very wrong. I kept going back to the GP, who ran blood tests, but the results were normal. He suspected tick bite fever, glandular fever, or stress. When a lump appeared in my groin, and then caused bruising under the skin, I asked a chiropractor friend about it, and he immediately ordered a scan. It turned out I had multiple tumors around my body,” says Hodgson.

The tumors, caused by skin cancer which had metastasized, had spread throughout her body into her brain, colon, liver and lymph glands. Over a period of several months, Hodgson underwent at least five major operations and had numerous subcutaneous tumors removed in the surgeon’s rooms. “These little tumors started popping up like popcorn all over my body,” says Hodgson. With the support of her partner and her two brothers, Hodgson won a lengthy battle with her medical aid to secure the necessary immunotherapy and raised money for her to consult melanoma experts in Israel. Her health declined rapidly, and Hodgson was admitted to hospital. “I had lost 13kg and I could barely walk. I developed ascites because of the tumors on my liver and had to have my abdomen drained repeatedly – I had 11 litres of blood drained and I had to have 12 transfusions. I also had a seizure because of the tumors in my brain. By November, the doctors said there was nothing more they could do and my family started flying in from all over to see me. I knew I was going downhill fast and I went into a very dark place,” says Hodgson.