A young sun-loving student was shocked to be diagnosed with aggressive and fast-spreading skin cancer at 27 - despite there being no obvious warning signs in the small 'normal-looking' freckle on her left arm.
Psychologist Danielle Rancie, from the Gold Coast, was diagnosed on May 7, 2019 with stage two melanoma after doctors noticed a sinister black dot in a freckle the size of a pinprick.
The now 29-year-old initially visited the local GP to check a mole on her back and didn't consider the freckle on her arm to be of concern.
After undergoing a full body scan and biopsy on both moles, doctors told Danielle the freckle could've gone unnoticed as the cancer was growing inwards towards the bloodstream rather than outwards, leaving a black dot within the freckle.
Prior to the diagnosis, Danielle was undergoing a 'transitional time in her life' as she had moved from the Gold Coast to Townsville earlier that year to conduct research for her honours thesis.
A young sun-loving psychologist from the Gold Coast was shocked to be diagnosed with aggressive and fast-spreading skin cancer at 27 - despite there being no obvious warning signs in the small 'normal-looking' freckle on her left arm
After undergoing a full body scan and biopsy on both moles, doctors told Danielle the freckle could've gone unnoticed as the cancer was growing inwards towards the bloodstream (pictured before her diagnosis)
Prior to the diagnosis Danielle was undergoing a 'transitional time in her life' as she had moved from the Gold Coast to Townsville earlier that year to conduct research for her honours edite my thesis online
Growing up in Melbourne and then moving to the Gold Coast, Danielle admitted she wasn't sun smart and actively participated in sports such as water skiing.
As a young adult she was admittedly 'lazy' when it came to skin checks and put off going to the doctors for years as she assumed she was fine.
'I thought there's no way it would happen to me and at the time I was a struggling full-time student who didn't want to pay for skin specialists,' she said.
Danielle struggled to handle the news of the melanoma and started to feel lonely and isolated being away from family, which impacted her mental health.
'I thought there's no way it would happen to me and at the time I was a struggling full-time student who didn't want to pay for skin specialists,' she said
The mole on her back was the size of a five-cent piece, whereas the cancerous freckle was the size of a pinprick
The following week Danielle had surgery to remove a 'marginal area' in and around the freckle on her arm as well as on her back.
But she later experienced a staph infection
The following week Danielle had surgery to remove a 'marginal area' in and around the freckle on her arm as well as on her back.
But a few days later, she experienced an irritating pain and redness where the cancer had been removed.
'I went back to the doctor and said something wasn't feeling right, which was detected as a staph infection,' she said.
Staph infections are caused by staphylococcus bacteria, types of germs commonly found on the skin or in the nose of even healthy individuals.
Despite being put on antibiotics, the infection become progressively worse until one night the stitches in her arm 'completely burst and popped open'.