Young mum dies after skin cancer ravaged her body

Radiography assistant and mum of two Zoe Panayi, 26, had her life in front of her but a suspicious looking mole on her back turned out to be the source of cancer that had spread through her body.

She was a former Cowes Carnival Queen, netball star, Irish dancer and horse rider and had worked in care homes and at St Mary's Hospital before landing her dream job as a radiography assistant at the hospital.

She balanced work with caring for her children, Theo-Jay, seven, and Tobias, five.

Now her mum, Eileen Punter, co-owner of the Island's Red Squirrel Property Shop, has called for skin tags and moles to be taken more seriously.

With the help of one of Zoe’s friends she is trying to start a petition to urge the government to make testing of all moles removed (even for cosmetic reasons) a regulated and mandatory thing included in the standard prices at all beauty clinics.

Eileen said she was charged £195 at an Island clinic to have Zoe's mole removed after her GP had suggested cosmetic removal and had, in Eileen's words, told her it was nothing to worry about.

Eileen said the GP had twice been asked about Zoe's mole, once in her presence, in 2017 and 2018.

She is now considering complaints against the GP and the beauty clinic.

"But at the end of the day I just want people to be more aware. Don't be fobbed off over moles and skin tags. Ask for a second opinion. It is about saving lives.

"We would also like all GPs and medical centres to take this far more seriously than they do, again by having the moles all tested and checked properly and referred to the hospitals and not beauty clinics."

Eileen Punter and her daughter Zoe Panayi

"I just want people to be more aware. Don't be fobbed off over moles and skin tags. Ask for a second opinion. It is about saving lives." -Eileen Punter.

"This has been the hardest 55 days of our lives. Zoe never complained while suffering as she did not want to cause upset to her family. She always thought of everyone before herself.

"We did everything we should by reporting the mole as soon as it changed in appearance, which we did twice, and feel that as Zoe was young, 26, she was not listened to properly and made to feel she was wasting the doctor's time."

The first the family knew of it was on April 3, when Zoe went to work as normal in the morning to St Mary's. She felt sick and had a temperature at work and was sent home.

Eileen said: "I took her back to hospital about 11.30pm that night as the pain in her side was so bad.

"At A and E they thought firstly that Zoe may have contracted Covid-19 as she had been scanning some patients with it, or even had sepsis or a gall bladder infection.

"They did an ultrasound scan and kept Zoe in overnight.

"The next morning, her boss, Graham, carried out the CT scan and then had to deliver the bad news Zoe’s liver was full of cancer."

Zoe went back into hospital on Monday, April 6, to have biopsies, and four days later she was given the devastating news the primary cancer had spread to her lymph nodes, liver, bone marrow in her spine, pelvis and spleen.

She was seen by an oncologist in Portsmouth the following week and told it was Stage 4 melanoma and it was terminal.

Eileen said: "We were so shocked and upset as we really was not expecting to hear this."

"Her boss carried out the CT scan and then had to deliver the bad news - Zoe’s liver was full of cancer." - Eileen Punter

Immunotherapy treatment started the following week but Zoe reacted badly to it and she was transferred to the hospice so her pain could be managed.

"The staff at Mountbatten, especially Dr John Curtin (pain doctor) were exceptional, as were her colleagues at St Mary's.

Dr Michele Legg, GP and clinical chair of NHS Isle of Wight Clinical Commissioning Group, said: “I am sad to learn about this case and my thoughts go out to her friends and family at what must be such a difficult time.

“If you are concerned about a new or existing mole then you can get more advice by searching ‘mole’ on nhs.uk.

“If you notice a change in a new or existing mole then you should contact your GP as soon as possible.”