Skin cancer sign: 21 year old's growing mole on collarbone turned out to be melanoma

It was when Darcy, now 24, was 21 years old, that her mom noticed a mole on her collarbone was becoming larger and darker. Her mom encouraged her to get it checked out and it was followed by a shocking diagnosis of the deadliest type of skin cancer.

"I was initially turned away by my GP who thought that the changes were nothing to worry about. Because I knew that something wasn’t right, I decided to go back again," Darcy told Teenage Cancer Trust.

Doctors cut out and tested the mole. Darcy was diagnosed with melanoma — a rare and dangerous skin cancer as it is likely to invade other parts of the body as well.

Darcy told the Manchester Evening News that she didn't know what melanoma was. She shared that she wanted the floor to swallow her up when doctors told her that the mole was cancer.

"That was it and I just couldn't couldn't take in anything else he was saying after that. I felt a bit numb," she said.

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According to Darcy, the doctors were "just as shocked" since she did not seem to be at risk of developing this form of cancer.

"I told them that I'd never had any bad sunburns. I've never been in a tanning bed, I do have the typical skin type that does have a lot of moles and has to be a bit more aware of their moles. Other than that, I don't feel like I'd put myself at any kind of further risk of getting skin cancer," she told Manchester Evening News.

Darcy had her initial surgery to remove them. This was followed by another surgery to remove a wider area around the mole. This is done to ensure that the doctors have removed everything cancerous.

“I haven't had any further treatment other than that, it was just a lot of scans to kind of make sure it hadn’t spread anywhere. It's just all about monitoring now and checking my skin all the time,” she said.

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"I had no idea about the signs and symptoms of cancer, so I would also encourage young people to familiarize themselves with them as it may save their life," she told the Teenage Cancer Trust.

Darcy, who works as a teacher, now feels far more positive in life than when she was initially diagnosed. “I've got a completely different outlook on life to be fair and I think and a lot changed from having my diagnosis and it just made me look at things a lot differently. I changed jobs not long after my diagnosis because I realized I wanted to be doing something different and more rewarding, which is why I ended up becoming a teacher.”