A MUM, whose troublesome ‘verruca’ turned out to be cancer, is joining forces with her sons to make a stand against the disease.

Rachel Solvason, aged 40, is kicking back at the disease that left a ‘gaping hole’ in her foot.

Mrs Solvason, from Fernhill Heath, was diagnosed with malignant melanoma in January 2017, six months after first noticing the sore spot on her foot.

She said: “It started in summer 2016 when I felt what I thought was a piece of glass stuck in the bottom of my foot. Eventually it grew into what looked like a verruca. I treated it with over-the-counter cream, but nothing seemed to work. By Christmas it had become the size of a penny and was quite sore to walk on.”

In 2017, Mrs Solvason was told it was malignant melanoma, adding: “It was so hard to take in. The dermatologist decided to remove it there and then, so I was left with a gaping hole in the bottom of my foot.”

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Mrs Solvason received further surgery to make sure all the cancer was removed. So much of her foot was taken away she had to have plastic surgery to replace part of her heel with a filler.

In November 2017 she noticed a lump in her groin. Biopsy results came back and showed it was melanoma.

In January, she had all her lymph nodes removed, but in summer 2018 the melanoma returned.

CT and MRI scans also revealed a few nodules of cancer in her lung, and later it was discovered in her stomach lining. The tumour in her stomach was removed, but surgery on her lung was impossible, so she began a course of immunotherapy.

Months down the line, Mrs Solvason is currently cancer free, though she still has treatment every four weeks. Last October she bared her many scars on Facebook in support of Stand Up To Cancer, which is a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4. She is determined to back the campaign again this year.

She added: “Having cancer has been a massive rollercoaster but the worst thing about it was having to tell my sons each time it was discovered in a new place.

“I’m a feisty person - I’ve had to be – and it gives me great pleasure to kick back at cancer by jazzing up my damaged foot and joining the Stand Up To Cancer campaign. I’ve given permission for all my samples and results to be used for research as I know science is our best way of defeating this horrible disease.”

By sharing her experience, she hopes to motivate people to get involved in Stand Up To Cancer’s ‘Fortnight of Fundraising’ from October 11 to 25.