[My doctor] said I had an 18% chance of survival."
Courtney Mangan, diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma at 29
Courtney Mangan is a 37-year-old entrepreneur from the Gold Coast. At the age of 29 she was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma.
Courtney is a passionate advocate for adopting sun safe practices and the End The Trend campaign.
Watch her story here:
Growing up around skin cancer
Courtney has a family history of skin cancer so has always been aware of the dangers of UV exposure.
"Being a fair redhead … I've obviously been very sun cautious. However, I was only really cautious at those times, when you're at the beach or when you're at the pool. It was all of the incidental sun that I wasn't wearing SPF for.”
Her story is not unusual. While most of us know we need to cover up, seek shade and wear our SPF (slip, slop, slap, seek and slide) when we’re at the beach or out for the day, it’s the seemingly ‘harmless’ incidental moments of unprotected sun exposure that add up. When we’re out shopping, having coffee with friends or playing sport outside we can forget to protect ourselves from UV. Just 15 minutes in the sun can start to damage your skin.
Courtney’s diagnosis
Courtney first personal experience with melanoma was in 2017 when she discovered she had a suspicious looking mole on the back of her right shoulder, where the sun hits her back on her daily drive to work. One day a family member mentioned the mole on her back looked like it had changed, and she should get it checked out.
Her GP referred her to a specialist and they sent it off for testing.
Just 12 hours later she had a call from the specialist who told her it was a level 4 melanoma. Courtney was immediately booked in for surgery at the hospital where they removed the melanoma and cut out a lymph node.
A lucky escape for Courtney, but she was being careful, staying out of the sun as much as possible and getting skin checks every three months as her doctors advised.
It didn’t end there…
Fast forward two and half years and Courtney thought she was out of the woods.
However, checking her skin one day she noticed a lump beneath the surface of her arm which she initially thought to be a boil. She mentioned it to her skin doctor who immediately referred her to a melanoma specialist; they suggested she had a PET scan.
“Let’s hope you don’t light up like a Christmas tree,” he said.
The results came back soon after and Courtney was told “you’re going to surgery on Monday. You have stage 4 cancer. Let me sit down and read you some statistics.”
"He said I had an 18% chance of survival."
A lot to process
Courtney was told her fertility could be impacted by the cancer treatment, so she immediately decided to freeze her eggs.
After a year of fortnightly trips to the hospital for treatment, the news came again.
She had been celebrating with friends when the results came back from a PET scan. The cancer had spread to her bowels. They acted quickly to remove this surgically; then just 3 months later the cancer had spread to her thighs.
The emotional impact after years of cancer treatment was huge.
At this point she was told they couldn’t just cut the cancer out; she would have to undergo a series of much more intense and debilitating treatments, and to mentally prepare herself for the worst.
"As a 30 year old woman, all of my friends had go bags for when they would … go into labour. I had a go bag to go to hospital in case my organs started to fail from my cancer treatment."
Courtney responded well to the course of treatment and is now just over two years cancer-free. But she is quick to remind us that she’s not in the clear yet.
Spreading the word on sun protection
Social media has been a huge part of Courtney’s life these past few years. Part mental health support, part survival story, Courtney has shared her experience with the intention of helping others going through the cancer process.
"Dating when you have cancer is not really very easy. And I'm not allowed to have children until I get the five years all clear. I'm only at 18 months now so I've got quite some time."
But for Courtney being able to share her story online and have someone say, 'oh I went and got a skin check and it’s a melanoma and they said they got it in time’ makes it kind of worth it for me, you know."
It’s time we stopped normalising a suntan
Courtney believes we need to change our attitudes to suntanning if we’re going to make any real difference. While social media influencers are still glamourising a suntan or showing off their tan lines, it’s going to be hard to shift attitudes to healthy skin.
But the facts speak for themselves. We know that 2 in 3 Australians will develop skin cancer in their lifetime and it is one of the most common cancers amongst young Australians.
"It’s taboo to show yourself smoking, or driving while you’re on the phone and that needs to be where we’re at with sun baking as well. It needs to be something that people are ashamed to show because they know it’s dangerous."
If anything raised in this article has caused concerns for you, please know that you can call Cancer Council’s free and confidential information and support service on 13 11 20 to speak to their specially trained staff, who can offer practical and emotional support.