Fiona's Skin Cancer Story
“I remember when I was called back in for my results after they removed the mole. They told me it was melanoma, and I was floored. Skin cancer was the last thing I had on my radar.”
Fiona White, 49, from Tullamore, Co Offaly, was diagnosed with melanoma in May 2025. Her diagnosis came about after some of her colleagues urged her to get a mole on her forearm checked.
“Two girls at work said that they didn’t like the look of the mole,” says Fiona, who works in a school as a special needs assistant. “They said they wanted me to go and get it looked at. I wasn’t the least bit worried. I got sunburnt as a kid, but as an adult I usually wrapped up and avoided the sun.”
After going to her GP, Fiona was referred to a dermatologist in Tallaght Hospital. She was seen in the hospital in mid-May, four weeks after she went to her GP.
“The day I went up to the hospital, I thought it was just an appointment where the dermatologist would have a look at the mole,” says mother-of-two Fiona. “But they said they didn’t like the look of it, so they removed it that day and they tested it and found that it was melanoma.
“I went back a few weeks later, in mid-June. I had a wide local excision, a lymph node biopsy and everything was caught."
"I’ve had ultrasounds under the arm where the mole was and they’ve come back clear, and I’ve gone from having them every three months to every six months now."
Fiona is sharing her story to encourage people to protect themselves and their children from the sun, as she believes her skin cancer may have developed from sunburns she had as a child.
“I was born in 1977 and every summer we’d be outside from morning to night, and I don’t remember there being sunscreen – I don’t know if that was much of a thing back then, I don’t think we knew about the importance of putting sunscreen on then the way we do now.
“I’d got the arms and legs burnt off me a few times, and I’d blister and peel."
"I remember my last big sunburn was when I was 15 and I was in the Gaeltacht, I got burnt on my arms, legs, shoulders, neck and knees. I’d imagine the damage was done from when I was a child."
Reflecting on her experience, Fiona says she now recognises the changes in her mole were indicative of skin cancer and would like other people to pay attention to any changes in their skin and to get them checked.
“I always thought it was just a freckle, but it did grow in size. The colour had changed and sometimes it looked almost scaly. When I look back on it now, I realise I had all the hallmarks of it being skin cancer, but that wasn’t on my radar at all while it was happening.”
Fiona adds that she supports the banning of sunbeds, as she used them a handful of times in her early 30s and thinks there needs to be more awareness around the risks of using them.
“I used them a handful of times in my early 30s, and I wish I hadn’t,” says Fiona. “It significantly increases the chance of developing skin cancer, and it ages your skin – it’s not worth it. If you want a tan, use the fake tan you can get in a bottle, that’s what I use now and some of them are brilliant.”
Fiona now checks her skin every month to keep track of any changes and also checks her breasts every month as she has a family history of breast cancer. She encourages people to cover up in the sun and protect their skin.
“You need to protect yourself,” she says. “Wear SPF all year round, wear a wide-brimmed hat and seek shade where possible, wear sunglasses, cover yourself up and try to avoid being outside during the hottest part of the day. I believe awareness of the measures we can take to protect our skin is key. I never thought I'd have a diagnosis of skin cancer but here we are.”
