Former Glasgow sunbed addict shocked to discover cancer after trying on new jeans

Roisin McCarney, from Glasgow, was stunned to find blood all over her jeans which had come from an ‘angry’ mole on her back.

The 26-year-old was then diagnosed with skin cancer after tests revealed she had stage three melanoma.

Roisin loved to tan before getting skin cancer

Despite giving up sunbeds years earlier the ‘damage was already done’ according to doctors.

Now she thinks sunbeds should be banned or limited as they cause just under one hundred deaths every year in the UK according to Cancer Research.

Her mole turned out to be cancerous

Roisin said: “The doctor told me my cancer was caused by the sunbeds.

“I used them for three years been the ages 18 and 21 and was diagnosed with melanoma when I was 24, it had been years but the damage was already done.

“I had worked in a sunbed shop so I was getting to use the beds for free whenever I wanted.

“I only stopped because I was more paranoid about wrinkles than thinking anything serious would happen.

“I know it’s everyone’s choice but you just don’t realise how dangerous they are, especially at that age.

“I think they should be banned or at least limited.”

Roisin was diagnosed in December 2020 at the dermatology department in the New Stobhill hospital, after first discovering her mole in August 2020.

Doctors then sadly confirmed her cancer had spread to nodes in her groin.

She underwent surgery and was put on chemotherapy tablets to battle her cancer before finally getting the all clear in March 2022.

Roisin has now been given the all clear

Roisin is now looking forward to life without ‘pain and headaches’ as she focuses on her music career.

The budding musician even came out with a single called ‘My Happy Ending’ which has been signed by German label, Boys Deep, and Universal Publishing.

She hopes the sentimental song will inspire others fighting through their own cancer journeys saying ‘life is too short not to follow your dreams’.

Roisin added: “It has been a tough year but I believe everything happens for a reason.

“I lost my job before covid and now I have fallen in love with music and writing.

“Life is too short to not follow your dream, and if you follow the right path, things will start to work out along the way.

“I just want to spread my positivity to anyone going through a hard time and allow my music to let them escape for a little while, just like it let me.”

Roisin’s song ‘My Happy Ending’ came out March 25, one week after she stopped treatment and got the all clear.

Her first gig back on the music scene will be on March 26 at the Flying Duck in Glasgow.