A GLASGOW hairdressing boss has paid tribute to his daughter’s courage after her death from cancer at 34, describing her as a “real-life superhero”.

Michelle Hanlon passed away earlier this week after a five-year battle with a rare form of lung cancer she was diagnosed with at just 29.

Billy Hanlon, owner of Hair by Hanlon on Great Western Road, where Michelle also worked as a hairdresser, said her strength and courage was “motivational to everyone who met her”.

Glasgow Times:

Michelle, who lived in Springburn and had never smoked, was diagnosed with advanced squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in December 2015. She had suffered very few symptoms.

Lung cancers in non-smokers tend to occur in younger people and often have certain gene changes that are different from those in tumours found in smokers. 

READ MORE: NHS to re-start some services including cancer care 

Treatment with immunotherapy drug Nivolumab, the first treatment of its kind in 20 years, allowed Michelle to return to work in her father’s long-running salon.

However, after eight different treatments, including successive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, the family were given the terrible news that there was nothing more that doctors could do.

Billy, who lives in Bishopbriggs, said: “My daughter Michelle was the most remarkable and inspirational young woman. 

“Throughout her illness she never once complained and her strength and courage was motivational to all that knew or met her. 

Glasgow Times:

“We always said that she was a real-life superhero.

“The whole family would like to offer our sincerest gratitude to everyone involved in Michelle’s care over the years – first and foremost to her oncologist Dr Brian Clark and also to all the staff at Ross Hall, the Beatson and the Marie Curie hospice. 

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“Thanks to them we had many more years with Michelle than we expected.

“We hope that we will be able to have a celebration of her life in the near future.”

Glasgow Times:

Mr Hanlon also wanted to share his thanks to the district nurses and East Dunbartonshire carers who helped his daughter through her illness.

The Scottish Government has re-iterated an appeal to the public not to ignore any concerns about cancer symptoms after it emerged urgent suspected cancer referrals by GPs have declined by 72% in Scotland during the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, with warnings of a similar pattern in other parts of the UK.

Scotland’s interim chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith said GPs had told him there were far fewer people presenting with symptoms.

Meanwhile, according to Cancer Research UK, the number of urgent cancer referrals in England has reduced by 75%, based on information it has received from different regions across the country.

For advice and support about cancer go to www.cancerresearchuk.org and www.maggies.org/