Donna Tottey’s story about how tanning gave her a malignant melanoma appears in THE SUN on SUNDAY newspaper…
Donna is just 23 and the mum to a little boy, Lewis, 2, but a tanning addiction has given her the most worrying form of skin cancer, a malignant melanoma.
The shop assistant, who lives with partner Tom, first went very brown on a family holiday to Ibiza when she was just 13. When she returned home, she topped up her tan on sunbeds. And over the next few years she spent thousands ensuring she always looked brown. The only time when she didn’t tan was when she was pregnant with Lewis.
However, following his birth, she noticed a mole on her leg had scabbed over and when it didn’t heal she saw her GP. Even he thought nothing of it but as a precaution the mole was removed. It turned out to be a malignant melanoma. 
Having had it cut out, Donna believed she was in the clear. But another mole near her tummy button also proved to be a malignant melanoma and she has since had a further eight suspect moles removed from her stomach. Fortunately, these have not been malignant melanoma but she now has to undergo three-monthly checks to ensure it hasn’t returned.
Donna, who was influenced by seeing celebrities continually brown on holiday, decided to tell her story in the hope that other young women will be warned to be extremely careful in the sun and not use sunbeds as she has.
Read Donna’s story in The Sun.
Donna’s story has also previously appeared in That’s Life magazine via our sister sell your story site Featureworld. If you would like to tell your story in a newspaper and a magazine then contact Featureworld by clicking the link.
