[ Source: BBC ]
Speaking on her podcast and social media, the Canadian star confirmed she had recently had a cancerous mole on her arm removed, and will have a further procedure next week to ensure it is all gone.
The stand-up comic, 41, was first diagnosed with cancer in 2004 when she was a student in Toronto, having a “golf ball-sized” lump taken out of her thigh as a result.
This time around, she said a doctor had initially dismissed her concerns, but tests showed that the mole was “early melanoma”.
“If you know about melanoma, you’ll know it is a deadly form of skin cancer. It does spread quickly, and I just felt like this mole wasn’t right,” she said.
However, a doctor assured her the mole was not melanoma, she told listeners of her Telling Everybody Everything podcast.
“It’s really easy to take a diagnosis of ‘you’re healthy’ and just walk away… But the mole kept changing.”
She went back to the doctor, who still said it was “totally fine”, but removed part of it for testing.
The doctor then called her back and confirmed her suspicions were correct – it was melanoma.
She said he told her it had been caught “very early, so I highly doubt that it has spread”.
She added: “It just feels crazy to me, what could have happened, if I hadn’t been my own advocate – and I will continue to be my own advocate.”
Ryan is a regular on UK TV programmes like Live at the Apollo, 8 Out of 10 Cats and her own Netflix show, The Duchess.
She said “the whole reason that I was reminded to go back” to the doctor’s was because she had seen Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Teddi Mellencamp talking about her own melonoma.
“God bless that woman for being so transparent about her journey,” she said.
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