Tradie, 38, given six months to live after his HAIRDRESSER found a dodgy mole and pressured him to get it checked out by a specialist after doctors sent him home claiming ‘it was nothing’
- A man has been diagnosed with cancer after his hairdresser noticed a mole
- Nicholas Smithson said two doctors failed to take the dark growth seriously
- A skin specialist agreed to do a biopsy and found he had terminal melanoma
By the time Nicholas Smithson’s hairdresser noticed a dodgy looking 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 hairstylist urged him to get the mole checked out.
But when he approached doctors they told him there was ‘nothing to worry about’.
Nicholas Smithson, pictured, had a dodgy mole removed after a hairdresser pushed him to get it checked out – but the operation came too late
Doctors dismissed 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 he went to two doctors in 11 days after noticing the growth had doubled in size – only to be dismissed.
Nicholas decided to go and see a skin specialist who took a biopsy immediately.
Results showed 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, leaving him shocked.
‘I remember I looked at my partner and said, ‘I’m going to f***ing die, 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 that’s when he realised how serious things were about to become
A PET scan revealed the cancer had spread throughout his body, into many of his organs and even his spine
He was raced to Brisbane where he had a bilateral neck dissection – a 10-hour operation to remove the lymph nodes in his neck.
Eleven days later he noticed another growth behind his ear.
A PET scan showed 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 are given bad news, they just disconnect,’ he said.
He admitted to randomly calling friends in hope of comfort and even asking the local funeral director if there was any proof of an afterlife.
Nicholas has always wanted to travel so his friends have started a GoFundMe to help him ‘do some living’ before he dies.
They have raised $17,000 after setting a $5000 goal to help the boiler maker ‘tick off some items on his bucket list’.
Nodular melanomas can spread to major organs within three months, according to Healthline.