Chloe Hayden’s mum Sarah Hayden issues skin cancer warning
Inverleigh’s Sarah Hayden has shared how her famous daughter potentially saved her life.
Geelong
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Actor Chloe Hayden may have saved her mother’s life, after urging her to go for a skin check that uncovered two melanomas.
Chloe’s mother, Inverleigh 49-year-old Sarah Hayden, said she had been intending to get a skin check “for years”.
“I grew up in the time we all sat outside and baked our selves,” Sarah said.
“There was no slip slop slapping.”
A few months ago, before returning to Sydney to shoot season two of Heartbreak High, Chloe, who is also a disability advocate, booked into get a mole checked and asked Sarah to come along too.
While Chloe, who was this week nominated for the Logie for most popular new talent, was given the all-clear, two suspicious spots were identified on her mother.
The spots, which looked like normal freckles to the naked eye, were around her lower back and on her arm.
The spots were biopsied, before a doctor delivered the “bad news” they were melanoma.
“I would never in a million years have thought (that would happen),” Sarah said.
She had the melanomas removed, and after a “horrendous” and anxious wait, learned that luckily the cancer had not spread.
“Had I left it until next summer it would have been too late,” she said.
“I keep saying to Chloe, ‘you literally saved my life’.”
Sarah has since become more vigilant about sun safety and will have biannual skin checks.
“I can absolutely say there’s no way I’ll be missing any skin check appointments,” she said.
The Cancer Council encourages people to monitor their skin and consult a doctor if they notice any new spots or changes to existing freckles or moles.
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Originally published as Chloe Hayden’s mum Sarah Hayden issues skin cancer warning