ITV Tyne Tees presenter Pam Royle raises awareness after skin cancer scare
ITV news presenter Pam Royle has spoken of her scare after being diagnosed with skin cancer and is now urging others to be aware of the disease.
Pam, who has been the face of Tyne Tees for more than 30 years, was diagnosed with melanoma in August 2016 after becoming concerned over a mark on her left leg.
At first she thought the mark – which was just the size of a pinhead – was from a thorn, as a result of taking her dog Lola for a walk through bushes.
When it was still there some weeks later, Pam said she sensed something was ‘not right’ and went to her GP, who referred her to skin cancer specialists at the One Life Centre, in Middlesbrough.
They diagnosed it as melanoma and Pam had surgery straight away.
When the result from the biopsy came back a few weeks later Pam wastold the cancer was invasive, meaning it had broken through the epidermis, the top layer of the skin – down into the dermis, which is the lower layer of the skin.
Pam, who is mum to Lawrence, 23, and 26-year-old Philippa, and has been married to husband Mike for 33 years, admitted she cried when she was first told about the cancer.
She said: “Getting a cancer diagnosis is a huge shock. I still can’t believe the diagnosis now. It doesn’t seem real.
“My first thought was ‘how do I tell my family?’. I thought, ‘should I tell them?Do they have to know? How can I protect them from knowing?’.
“I just had this feeling if I was ill then I am the one that's causing them hurt and I wanted to protect them from that. When they found out they were brilliant, they were absolutely brilliant. They were very supportive.”
Pam needed further surgery to remove the area around the cancer.
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer.
According to Cancer Research UK, around 15,400 people are diagnosed with melanoma in the UK each year – 42 new cases every day.
Over the last decade, the number of people diagnosed with melanoma in the UK has increased by almost half and it is now the fifth most common cancer in the UK.
Unless it is treated early, it can get into the bloodstream and can travel to other organs in the body.
Almost 2,500 people die from skin cancer every year.
Although Pam’s tumour was invasive, it was caught early.
After her diagnosis there has been no suggestion it has spread and she goes for check-ups every three months.
She said: “I have been told I am very lucky it was caught early and I’m being very positive about the future.”
One year on from her diagnosis Pam is sharing her very own personal story now to raise awareness of the disease.
She is urging people to check themselves regularly and take precautions.
One of the most common causes of skin cancer is exposure to the sun’s rays.
Pam admits she was a ‘sun worshipper’ and used sunbeds.
She said: "I didn't want to tell anybody about my diagnosis. I’m a very private person and I’m not very comfortable with talking about me. The reasonI'm telling my story now is to make people aware.
“I still can't believe the thing that was on my leg was so lethal it was so tiny,it was like a freckle with a dark dot.
“IfI can help anybody else really look at their skin and prevent even one person from getting skin cancer then it's going to be worth it."
See Pam Royle's full report on her skin cancer scare on ITV Tyne Tees at 6pm
USEFUL WEBSITES
For further information on skin cancer, check out these various websites: