After his hairdresser discovered a mole, a man learned he had terminal cancer. It was too late by the time Nicholas Smithson’s hairdresser detected a suspicious-looking mole on his neck; the 38-year-old only has six months left to live as a result of his condition.
The boilermaker from Rockhampton, Queensland, claimed that his hairstylist had strongly suggested that he get the mole checked out.
However, when he consulted medical professionals, they reassured him that there was “nothing to be concerned about.”
Nicholas made the decision to visit a dermatologist, who performed an examination and a biopsy on him right away.
The examination revealed that the growth was a nodular melanoma and that cancer had spread to his lymph nodes in addition to the darkened mole.
After the cancer was discovered, he said the physicians conveyed the “worst case scenario,” which left him in a state of shock.
“I remember looking at my girlfriend and saying, “I’m going to f***ing die, this is going to kill me,” and I’ve never forgotten it.
“We went to my house, where we did nothing but look at the empty wall and cry.”
He was sent to Brisbane, where he underwent a bilateral neck dissection, which was a procedure that lasted for ten hours and involved the removal of lymph nodes from his neck.
Eleven days later, he observed a new growth developing behind his ear.
A PET scan revealed that the disease had spread throughout his body, and it was no longer realistic for him to hope that treatment may result in a cure.
In August, the physicians predicted that he had only six months to live.
He explained, “It’s much like in the movies when people are given the horrible news, they just disengage.”
He admitted to ringing his pals at random in the hope that they could console him, and he even asked the local funeral director whether there was any evidence that there was an afterlife.
Nicholas has had a lifelong desire to see the world, so his friends have set up a GoFundMe campaign to assist him in “doing some living” before he passes away.
In order to assist the boiler maker in “ticking off some items on his bucket list,” they have gathered $17,000 after initially establishing a goal of $5000.
According to Healthline, nodular melanomas have the potential to spread to key organs in as little as three months.