A senior Labour MP has revealed he is having immunotherapy after skin cancer was detected in his lung.
Sir Chris Bryant said he had “every hope” of being successfully treated.
The Labour frontbencher had previously received treatment for a melanoma found on the back of his head five years ago and the cancer in his lung was found as part of the regular scans he has had since then.
The shadow creative industries minister urged people to take skin cancer seriously and take precautions by covering up and using high-factor sun cream.
Rhondda MP Sir Chris said: “Just over five years ago, my husband spotted an odd looking mole on the back of my head and I decided to take it to the doctor just to have it checked out.
“And thank goodness I did, because it turned out to be a melanoma, a particularly vicious form of skin cancer, and a late one at that – stage 3B.”
He was given just a 40% chance of living a year but surgery and targeted therapy “dramatically improved” the outlook.
Regular scans every six months followed and he had been cancer free until he was told in January this year – on his 62nd birthday – that something had been found in his right lung.
In a social media video, Sir Chris said: “Two weeks later, I was in the hospital bed, they put a robot in my lung, they cut a little bit out and it did turn out indeed to be a melanoma in my lung – not lung cancer, but skin cancer in my lung.
“Now, in years gone by that might have been a death sentence, but thanks to immunotherapy, which I’m now on, my prognosis, my chances of being completely cancer free in 10, 15 years’ time, are really, really good.”
He said the immunotherapy was “tough” but “I have every hope of being completely cancer-free for the rest of my life”.
Sir Chris urged people: “If you’re in doubt about a mole, get it checked out.”
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