'We asked how long I had left to live' – Brave Dudley mother shares battle with incurable skin cancer

Those are the words of former carer turned business owner and Dudley mum Helen Hickman who faced the devastating dilemma of telling her young son she may die.

The 46-year-old spotted a blood blister on her arm in March 2021 and after a hospital visit was diagnosed with melanoma - a type of skin cancer.

After bouts of surgery she was told the disease had been beaten but, less than a year later, was back in the doctor's office receiving the world-collapsing news that the cancer had spread to her abdomen and lungs and was at stage four - giving her only 'a couple of years' left to live.

The mother-of-one, who ran cleaning enterprise ‘Mom’s Magic Clean’, says the moment she heard the diagnosis was the first time she broke down in tears since her journey began, less than a year earlier.

Then months later she was told that some of her cancer had shrunk, was 'stable' and would no longer be offered medical aid.

But after battling with doctors for more treatment - and winning - she is now campaigning for greater efforts on making sure sufferers of the disease are not left 'fighting' to live.

She said: "I was only 45 when I was diagnosed, so to be told I might only have a couple of years left to live was devastating.

“When I was told the cancer had spread, the nurse took me and my partner Glen into a room, that’s the first time I cried. My son was just 23 and I thought ‘I can’t die yet'."