A woman whose "freckle" turned out to be a rare form of cancer has recalled the moment that she received the diagnosis while she was six months pregnant.
Aimee Hill, 33, said that a routine appointment at her optician led to a "devastating" cancer diagnosis, forcing her into deciding what was best for both her and her unborn child.
In November 2020, the expectant mother went for a check-up when her optician spotted a "freckle" in the back of her left eye, North Wales Live reports.
She was referred to hospital, where scans revealed that she had ocular melanoma, a rare form of eye cancer.
Aimee states that she was then faced with an almost impossible decision about whether to start treatment straight away or wait until her unborn baby had been delivered.
She said: "Obviously, being six months pregnant and being diagnosed with cancer was a traumatic and difficult time.
"My pregnancy wasn't easy either. I was really sick and I already felt like I was going through it - and then to be diagnosed with cancer was devastating.
"But then I was like 'right, you need to sort yourself out now because you need to ask questions about the baby and how this is all going to affect him'.
"There was a risk of miscarriage with treatment as I'd need to go under general anaesthetic, but there was also a risk of the cancer growing or spreading elsewhere.
"I obviously didn't want to have cancer anymore, but at the same time I didn't want to do anything that was going to affect the baby. I was advised to start treatment straight away so that's what I did."
Aimee was diagnosed with an eye cancer which is found in around 750 people in the UK each year. But because of Covid restrictions at the time, the mum-to-be had to attend the appointment alone.
She recalled: "As soon as I went in to see the doctor and she showed me the scan of my eye, I knew straight away that something wasn't right. She mentioned the word 'tumour' but cancer wasn't mentioned at that stage."
Aimee, from Port Talbot, was then referred to the Royal Liverpool University Hospital for further examination. She added: "My appointment was on December 18, 2020. I'll never forget that day because that was the day we went into lockdown again and that was the day that I was diagnosed with cancer."
In January 2021, Aimee started treatment at St Paul's Eye Clinic in Liverpool. She had plaque radiotherapy - a high dose of radiation to a small area. A small radioactive disk was placed over the cancer on the affected eye to continually give off radiation.
"I was seven months pregnant when I had my treatment. My time at the hospital was so hard. I couldn't see my husband, Aaron, due to Covid restrictions, and I could only had paracetamol for pain relief," she explained.
Aimee then recovered at home before giving birth to her "happy and healthy" son, Evan, in March 2021.
Three months later, the whole experience caught up with Aimee and she started to struggle emotionally.
Six months after her surgery, Aimee returned to the eye clinic in Liverpool for her follow-up - and it wasn't the news she was anticipating.
She said: "I was expecting them to say I had the all-clear as they told me the treatment had a 95% success rate. But unfortunately the cancer is still there and the tumour is the same size but it isn't any bigger which is a positive thing."
However, Aimee is hoping the treatment she has had already will have an impact on the tumour.
Aimee said she is also keen to raise awareness to help other people affected by cancer and added: "I want to be open about it because I think a lot of people struggle to talk about cancer.
"One in two people will get cancer in their lifetime, and I think a lot of people are scared to talk about it. When I was going through it, a lot of people I thought would be there for me and talk to me weren't.
"But I think it was because they were probably worried of saying the wrong thing. But actually, not saying anything at all is worse. "
Aimee's final message is to encourage people to visit the opticians regularly.
She said: "There is so much more to an eye test than just checking your vision, and I don't think a lot of people realise that. I've received so many messages from people saying 'Because of your story, I've gone for an eye test'. And that's really important to me."
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