Man reveals terminal cancer diagnosis after his hairdresser found mole
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Tradie, 38, is given six months to live after his stylist found an untrustworthy mole and pressured him to have it examined by a specialist after doctors sent him home saying it was nothing.
- A man was diagnosed with cancer after his hairdresser noticed a mole
- Nicholas Smithson Said Two Doctors Didn’t Take Dark Growth Seriously
- A skin specialist agreed to do a biopsy and found he had terminal melanoma
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By the time Nicholas Smithson’s hairdresser noticed an untrustworthy mole on his neck, it was too late — now the 38-year-old has just six months to live.
The boilermaker from Rockhampton, Queensland, said his barber urged him to have the mole checked.
But when he approached doctors, they told him that “nothing was wrong.”
Nicholas Smithson, pictured, had an untrustworthy mole removed after a hairdresser pushed him to have it checked – but surgery came too late
Doctors fired Nicholas when he asked about the mole – despite it doubling in size in just 11 days – so he went to a skin specialist
In fact, the tradie told The Courier Mail that he went to two doctors in 11 days after noticing the growth had doubled in size – only to be fired.
Nicholas decided to see a skin specialist who immediately took a biopsy.
The results showed that the growth was a nodular melanoma and that it had spread beyond the blackened mole to his lymph nodes.
He said doctors explained the “worst case scenario” after finding the cancer, which shocked him.
“I remember looking at my partner and saying, ‘I’m fucking dying, this is going to kill me’.
“We went to my house and just stared at the blank wall and cried.”
After his lymph nodes were removed, Nicholas found another lump behind his ear – he revealed when he realized how serious things were about to get
A PET scan revealed that the cancer had spread throughout his body, in many of his organs and even his spine.
He was rushed to Brisbane where he had a bilateral neck dissection – a 10-hour surgery to remove the lymph nodes in his neck.
Eleven days later, he saw another tumor behind his ear.
A PET scan revealed that he was riddled with cancer and could no longer expect treatments to lead to a cure.
In August, doctors gave him six months to live.
“It’s like in the movies when people get bad news, they just disconnect,” he said.
He admitted to calling friends at random in hopes of comfort and even asking the local undertaker if there was any evidence of an afterlife.
Nicholas has always wanted to travel, so his friends have started a GoFundMe to help him “live a little” before he dies.
They raised $17,000 after setting a $5,000 goal to help the boilermaker “check some items off his bucket list.”
Nodular melanomas can spread to major organs within three months, according to Healthline.