A 75-year-old has thanked a stranger who may have saved his life – after spotting his cancerous mole in a multi-story car park.
Chris Long says he was approached by a woman who claimed to work in dermatology as he and his wife returned to their car from shopping at the Castle Street site in Canterbury.
With the conversation initially coming across as “a bit odd,” the retired local government worker was left stunned after she pointed out a mole on his calf.
But within weeks, doctors had confirmed it was a melanoma, and Mr Long soon found himself on the operating table.
It has left him keen to thank his guardian angel and pay her back for what could have been life-saving advice.
Mr Long, who lives in Beltinge, told KentOnline: “I owe her a huge thank you, and now I’ve found who she is and where she works, I think I ought to send her some flowers to thank her.
“I thought I was fairly vigilant because my wife and I travelled quite a bit in the sunshine and have been to Australia quite a few times, so we’re sort of normally hyper-aware of these sorts of things.
“But it’s hard to spot a patch on the back of your calf, especially if your agility is affected by age and two knee replacements – I never would have seen it.
“Without the intervention of the young lady in that car park, the cancer would have continued to grow.
“I would like to say a huge thank you to her, she changed my life in a moment and may have saved me from serious illness.”
As well as the miraculous discovery of his cancer, Mr Long has been left hugely impressed with the work of Kent and Canterbury Hospital.
He was referred for an urgent dermatology consultation, with removal of the mole scheduled for two weeks later.
“I’m not completely out of the woods, but fingers crossed,” he said.
“I’ve got another minor operation to take a bit more of the leg away and do another biopsy of the nearest lymph node.
“It took a few days to get a GP telephone appointment, but then the hospital reaction was very fast and they’ve seen me a couple of times, or three times so far.
“The team who undertook the operation were excellent, caring, and thorough, though they said they wished I’d been able to see them a lot earlier.”
Dr Andrew Birnie, consultant dermatologist for East Kent Hospitals and skin cancer lead for Kent, said: “It is so important to report new or changing moles to your GP, as it could save your life.
“Even better would be to try and avoid getting skin cancer in the first place.
“Making sure that your skin never goes red in the sun will reduce the risk of melanoma and wearing sunscreen on skin that is not covered by clothes or a hat will reduce your risk.”
