A grandmother, who discovered she was suffering from an aggressive form of skin cancer, is terrified that life-saving surgery to “remove” her face and replace it with a prosthetic will leave her “looking like Freddy Krueger”.
When mum of three Sheila Chadwick, 64, first felt something in her right nostril in January 2021 and could not wipe it away, she was not worried as her GP thought it was simply a wart. However, when the “wart” spread to cover her entire nose medics at Bradford Royal Infirmary grew concerned.
Fearing it was something more sinister, a subsequent biopsy confirmed their worst fears that it was squamous cell carcinoma, the second most common form of skin cancer. Since then, Sheila has had two major operations and 40 gruelling rounds of radiotherapy, only for the cancer to persist. This means she needs yet another surgery later this month to remove her nose, top lip and part of her top gum in a bid to survive.
