Young Aussie woman is left with a large skin cancer on her forehead after doctors refused to cut it out for bizarre reason
Anna Rowe first noticed a bump the size of a small pimple on her forehead in 2021. After months of nagging from her father, she went to a doctor to have it examined.
Three years later, the 24-year-old university student now faces expensive surgery to remove skin cancer.
The idea that the bump was cancer had never occurred to Anna, because she thought that skin cancer appeared as ‘birthmarks’ and that she had not been a ‘tanner’ in her youth.
Despite her first doctor suspecting the bump was cancerous in 2021, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that she was scheduled to have the bump removed.
Incredibly, many doctors were concerned about removing the site because of the scarring.
Anna said she felt doctors dismissed her concerns and regretted not pushing further to have the spot removed when it was first discovered.
“The very first doctor I went to didn’t do any tests to see if the bump was cancerous, but he looked at it and thought it was cancer,” she told Daily Mail Australia.
“His solution was to burn it down, so he tried that several times.
“He had me come back every week to try to burn it off for six weeks.
‘Of course I just trusted the doctor, but after those six weeks I told him I wanted to try something else because the burning wasn’t working.’
Anna Rowe faces $6,000 surgery, which she can’t afford as a Melbourne University student, to remove a large skin cancer that started as a small, pimple-like spot
Ms Rowe visited four doctors and watched her skin cancer grow before finally receiving a diagnosis
The continued attempts to ‘burn’ the area away resulted in damage to Anna’s skin, which frustrated her even further.
“He kept saying, ‘We’ll try it again, one more time and it works. It’s almost over,'” Anna said.
“I actually had to fight him and just leave his office because I knew it just wasn’t working.”
Although Anna had given up on ‘burning’ the spot, she was still determined to undergo tests to find out if it was cancerous and have it removed.
“After the first doctor, I went to a real skin cancer clinic and had a biopsy done,” she said.
‘I’m not sure if the doctor did the biopsy incorrectly or if they took the sample from the wrong spot because the test showed nothing.
‘I was relieved and they gave me this cream to make the spot go away.’
Ms Rowe used the cream until it ran out, then continued on-site monitoring for the next year while she studied abroad.
Many doctors refused to approve surgery to remove Ms Rowe’s suspicious area because it would cause scarring
When she returned to Australia, she decided to visit the clinic again as the place had grown in size.
“They turned me away and said everything was fine because they had already done a biopsy,” Anna said.
‘The doctor did nothing other than reassure me that it would go away on its own.’
It wasn’t until Anna visited two more doctors that a second biopsy was performed, which revealed the spot was cancerous.
One of the main obstacles she faced was doctors refusing to surgically remove the area due to the risk of scarring.
“I just wanted to get it cut out and no one would let me cut it out,” Ms Rowe said.
‘They all said I was too young and didn’t want a scar on my forehead.
‘I’d rather have a scar than cancer.
“I just can’t understand why medical professionals would put vanity over my health.”
Anna moved to Melbourne to complete her master’s degree in translation and there she found the doctor who finally took her concerns seriously.
“I noticed that over the last few months the spot started to grow quite quickly and it also started to become painful,” she said.
“It was funny because when I was diagnosed with cancer, I wasn’t stressed. I was especially relieved that someone finally listened to me.’
Ms Rowe’s spot began to grow rapidly and become more painful after she moved to Melbourne to complete her master’s degree
The doctor scheduled Anna to undergo surgery in three weeks to remove the cancer.
However, she is faced with having to postpone the procedure because it costs $6,000 – money she simply doesn’t have.
“I don’t know, but I hope I don’t have to postpone it,” Mrs Rowe said.
“It just depends on the financial resources.”
A group of Ms Rowe’s ‘great’ colleagues at Hotel Chadstone have started one GoFundMe to help cover her surgery and recovery costs.
It is not yet known how extensive the operation will be, as doctors cannot understand the extent of the cancer until Anna undergoes surgery.
“From what I understand from the consultation, I will probably have about a week or a week and a half off work and then follow-up consultations to have stitches removed to make sure I recover,” she said.
‘The surgeon said he couldn’t really determine how deep the cancer had grown until he performed the surgery and tried to get everything out.
‘I’ve already had to adjust my uni schedule and cancel two units as I’ve had to work more to try and save money for this operation.’
Like all other Aussies who feel their health concerns are being dismissed by doctors, Anna urged them to be strong in seeking answers early.
“My place is so much bigger now,” she said.
‘It just makes me think, If I had had it removed all those years ago, it would have been a less complicated operation and probably wouldn’t have cost me as much.”