Pregnant mum diagnosed with skin cancer after nurse told her to get mole checked

A mum was told she had skin cancer while she was pregnant with her third child, after a nurse spotted a mole on her arm.

Earlier this year, Nicola Orme noticed that the large mole on her arm had changed in recent months and decided to get it checked out after it started to bleed.

The 33-year-old from Llandudno, who had already been advised to get it checked out when visiting a nurse during her pregnancy, underwent a biopsy and was told she had melanoma, a type of skin cancer that is often caused by too much sun exposure.

A week before she was supposed to have an operation, Nicola’s waters broke, and Lincoln, her baby son, was born prematurely by nine weeks.

Nicola, who is married to Mark, already has two other boys, a six-year-old and a two and a half-year-old.

Mark, who works for Conwy County Council as a fitness manager, said: “Lincoln spent a month in the special care baby unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, he only came home last Thursday (June 30).

"When he was born he weighed 4lb 3oz, and now he was weighs 5lb 6oz - he’s still tiny but the staff in the SCBU are very happy with him.

"Because of the boys and all what has been going on with Lincoln we haven’t had too much time to focus on what has been happening with Nicola, it’s good in a way to have our minds taken away from it.

"Her mole has been operated on and been taken out, and now we are just waiting to see if she needs any more treatment, to see if it has spread."

The 39-year-old added: “It’s an anxious time as I sadly lost my mum to melanoma when she was only 48."

Mark says his wife used to love sunbathing, and now regrets not being as vigilant in applying sunscreen to herself as she always has done so to her children.

Throughout this extremely challenging time, the family says what has really shone through is the “incredible professionalism, compassion and empathy” that has been shown to them by the various NHS staff that they have met.

"In particular, the team on the SCBU ward at Ysbyty Gwynedd have cared for Lincoln so well and been kind and considerate to all of our family at every step of the way so far.

"Lincoln is the second of our three sons who has received care within SCBU at Ysbyty Gwynedd and for this reason I want to give something back and raise some funds for the unit through Awyr Las, the North Wales NHS Charity."

On Friday, October 14, starting at 7am he is aiming to walk the six main routes up Yr Wyddfa within 36 hours, finishing by 7pm on Saturday, October 15.