Skin cancer: Farmer thought lesion was a bite

Mr McKay said he wished he had known more about how to avoid skin cancer when he was younger.

“Wear sunscreen and wear a hat,” he explained.

“The other thing is when you find a lesion go straight and get attention to it.

“My lesions come up a bit like a blood blister and I thought it was a bit of a blood blister, maybe a bite.

“I ignored it probably for no more than eight weeks. And those eight weeks were enough to make the difference between what would have been maybe a stage one, possibly stage two, to a stage four cancer.”

Mr McKay said he is not terminally ill but added: “It’s a dangerous place to be”.

Stage four is a term used to mean that a cancer has spread to another body organ from where it was first found.

As an adult Mr McKay farmed as a hobby but has had to give up his farm because of his cancer treatment.

He said: “The cancer has completely curtailed any of those activities. The treatment is fairly severe. Climbing stairs is a struggle so trying to work on a farm is almost impossible.”