Killed using SUNBED.
A 31-year-old mother-of-eight died after sunbeds caused a cancerous mole the size of a prune to develop on her leg.
Teresa Zawadski had never sunbathed outdoors, instead opting to use the sunbed she kept at her Derbyshire home.
But when a mole on her leg started to grow she was too scared to get it looked at by doctors.
She ignored it until her mother Helen forced her to seek medical help, but by then it was too late to save her young life.
Skin cancer was confirmed and secondary tumours had spread to her lungs and spine.
She began receiving treatment immediately, but the cancer resisted both radiotherapy and chemotherapy and Ms Zawadski died just six months after her diagnosis.
Now her grieving mother has called for an outright ban on the sunbeds she believes were responsible for her daughter’s death.
Mrs Zawadski, 51, is now looking after seven of her daughter’s children, aged between three and 15, at her two-bedroom home in Derby.
She said: ‘Teresa was such a strong person. She only ever broke down in front of me once.
‘It was so hard to take in. We just couldn’t believe it was happening.
‘Teresa never sunbathed outside because she didn’t like it. But she did have a sunbed in the house. I think it was going on that sunbed that caused her cancer.
‘I think they should be banned. There’s been talk for years about them causing cancer.’
‘Teresa showed me the mole one day and I couldn’t believe how big it was. It was the size of a prune and raised from off her skin.
‘I think she was too scared to go and get it checked out.’
The mole was removed immediately but scans confirmed the cancer had spread.
In January she started to suffer from severe pain but refused to go into hospital as she did not want to leave her children Leon, three, four-year-old twins Lewis and Lucas, Kieran, six, Nathan eight, Shaun, 12, and Kaylee, 15.
Mrs Zawadski recalled returning from a holiday in March last year to discover her daughter’s condition had worsened.
She said: ‘She looked so ill, she couldn’t even get up off the sofa. Over the weekend she had really deteriorated. We told her she had to go into hospital and they took her in.
‘That was the last time I saw her awake. She slept all the following day and she died on the Tuesday.’
For several months after her death the children stayed with their father, but he found it increasingly difficult to cope.
Mrs Zawadski has quit both her jobs to raise her grandchildren alone, after her partner of 20 years left her.
‘It was hard because I had to sort everything out, starting from scratch. Claiming benefits was a nightmare to begin with. I had no money for three months and I even had to pay dinner money because I didn’t have tax credits,’ she said.
Derby hospitals’ Dr Tanya Bleiker called for a new law which would mean all sunbed users must first sign a consent form to show they have been given information warning of the dangers.
She said: ‘Sunbed use increases the risk of skin cancer and I strongly advise people to avoid using them.’
The above video makes me so sad, Clare of course died and the cause seems to be at the feet of her desire for a tan. I, also have spent many years in the sun and used sun beds in winter. But no more. RIP Clare.
We yeld so much to outside pressure, in wanting to belong, to be… and we forget that we ARE, from the moment we’re born. Pride is comendable, vanity a tragedy.
Melanoma Drug:
ATLANTA – Testing on an experimental drug at a Tennessee hospital could offer hope to those with melanoma.
The treatment appears to be already helping patients.
Researchers call the drug PLX-4032 and its undergoing clinical trial testing at the Vanderbilt Ingram Cancer Center.
Dr. Jeffrey Sosman, who heads Vanderbilt’s melanoma research, says the drug works by targeting the gene mutation that causes melanoma, essentially telling the cancer cells to stop growing.
While the drug is showing promise its not a cure.
Hospital officials say the new drug being tested could get FDA approval as early as next spring.
Donna Regen releases painful material in hope of warning teens about tanning beds dangers. http://ow.ly/25N8l