A man was given just months to live after a routine visit to his hairdresser led to a shocking diagnosis.
38-year-old Nicholas Smithson of Rockhampton, Queensland, was urged by his hairdresser to have his black mole checked by a specialist after the former spotted the growth on the man’s neck.
While two different doctors initially reassured Nicholas that there was nothing to worry about, the bump continued growing and doubled in size in just days.
Concerned by the sudden changes, Smithson decided to pay a visit to a skin specialist who performed a biopsy and found out that the growth was not a mole but a nodular melanoma – skin cancer – that had already spread to his lymph nodes.
“I remember I looked at my partner and said, ‘I’m going to f***ing die, this is going to kill me.’ We went to my house and just stared at the blank wall and cried,” the young man said as he recalled his diagnosis.
Days after having his lymph nodes removed in a ten-hour procedure known as the bilateral neck dissection, Smithson spotted a new growth just behind his ear, prompting him to undergo a PET scan.
Further testing revealed that cancer had already spread to different parts of his body including most of his organs and that his condition was terminal.
“It’s like in the movies when people are given bad news, they just disconnect,” Smithson added as he recalled being given just 6 months to live back in August.
Friends of the young man have since launched a GoFundMe page to raise funds to help Nicholas realize his dreams and travel the world during the last few months of his life.
“Nicko has been diagnosed with stage four Melanoma and is currently fighting to win his battle against cancer. Nicko has expressed that he would like to do as much travelling as possible while he still can. Although Nicko has been given a terminal diagnosis, we hope he can fight and win his war against cancer,” Claudette and Jamie Collins wrote.
“Those of you who do not know Nicko, he is a kind, generous human being with a beautiful soul, also very proud. Nicko initially did not want this go fund me to happen, but the only way to tick his goals was to help support his dream of doing some travel, and without the support of those around him, this is not possible.”
Our thoughts remain with Nicholas during this challenging time.