I thought melanoma was just a mole but now I have tumours on my heart and I won't see my daughter grow up. This is the one 'slight' symptom that I shouldn't have ignored...

• Victoria Hudson-Craig was 診断するd with 行う／開催する／段階 4 melanoma
• The New Zealand mum has five tumours growing on her heart 
• READ MORE: If I listened to doctors, my baby would be dead

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Victoria Hudson-Craig was just 33 when she noticed a strange mole on her shoulder - but several doctors thought nothing of it.

The mole changed 形態／調整 a few times - and alarm bells started （犯罪の）一味ing in May 2013 when it began to bleed 負かす／撃墜する Victoria's 支援する.

急速な／放蕩な-今後 11 years, and Victoria now has five tumours on her heart. 

Tragically, doctors h ave told Victoria that her rare form of melanoma is incurable.  

The young mum told FEMAIL she was 'terrified' of her six-year-old daughter growing up without her and that she never imagined a small mole and 不規律な heart palpitations were the only symptoms of what was to come. 

'I was on holiday with my sister and she noticed the mole bleeding,' Victoria said.

'I went 支援する to another doctor again who told me I needed to have it 除去するd すぐに - which was the polar opposite of all 医療の advice I'd received before.'

The に引き続いて month, the mole was 除去するd and 正式に 診断するd to be 行う／開催する／段階 2b melanoma.

'I was shocked at first - I hadn't really heard much about it, growing up in the UK. It wasn't a 一般的に-known 癌 to me,' Victoria said.

Doctors made その上の excisions into Victoria's 支援する and left shoulder to check if the illness had spread to surrounding tissue, but nothing was 設立する at the time.

'They told me it could still be in my bloodstream and undetectable. But there was nothing else to be done in the moment,' Victoria said.

In 2015, Victoria moved to New Zealand and 結局 gave birth to her daughter, Ruby, in 2017.

'The 初めの melanoma in 2013 sent me to a dark place,' she said. 

'I moved to New Zealand to have a break from life and reevaluate what was important to me.

'I met my husband six months later and ended up staying here, and I've tried to live in the moment more. I'm very aware that time is short.'

Victoria felt a sharp 苦痛 in her abdomen in October 2020 and was 急ぐd to the hospital with appendicitis.

'As the hospital was prepping me to have my 虫垂 除去するd, they did a ざっと目を通す to check that it was indeed my 虫垂 原因（となる）ing 苦痛.

'The radiologist's 手渡す slipped and accidentally scanned the 底（に届く） of my heart - where two tumours were 明白な.'

Victoria 解任するd the doctor's wide-注目する，もくろむd 表現.

Several 実験（する）s later, the mum was 診断するd with four tumours on her heart - three around the 底（に届く） of the muscle, and one in the middle.

'They thought the melanoma had come 支援する, but it didn't look very much like melanoma. Doctors said it looked unusual and they couldn't really identify it.'

After the 十分な説得力のない findings, doctors sent Victoria's 実験（する） results to foreign 同僚s with the hope someone would be able to 診断する her.

Papworth Hospital in the UK did an 分析 that showed it was more likely than anything else that the tumours were a result of melanoma.  

'I was then 扱う／治療するd for 行う／開催する／段階 4 melanoma and started immunotherapy for nine months - but it 証明するd 効果のない／無能な.'

Victoria was stunned by the diagnosis - 特に considering she had no other obvious symptoms.

The mum 解任するd slight heart palpitations, but she was also going through 早期に menopause at the time, and believed it was 予定 to her hormonal changes.

'The 癌 was 進歩ing and doctors also 設立する a fifth tumour in my heart in December 2021. The week before Christmas, doctors told me all the five tumours had grown and the biggest one was 6cm.'

Victoria had to find 代案／選択肢 治療s when she realised the immunotherapy had no hope of working.

She started on BRAF inhibitor 麻薬s and paid for it out of pocket because the 薬／医学 was not 基金d by the 政府.

Four months later, a 奇蹟 occurred: Victoria's tumours had shrunk by 30 per cent, with the に引き続いて months showing a 類似の pattern of shrinkage.

However, the 医薬 has 衝撃d Victoria's 質 of life and 原因（となる）d 厳しい health 苦悩 - with even a mere stomach bug needing to be checked out by her doctor.

'There's always the chance that it isn't just something I ate but the 癌 and other symptoms are 存在 masked by the pills,' she said.

She also 定期的に 苦しむd through high fevers and 疲労，（軍の）雑役 where she couldn't even get out of bed for days at a time.

Something that helps Victoria get through every day is to try to see life through her daughter's 注目する，もくろむs.

'She knows there's something wrong with my heart, and that I take 医薬 for it. But she doesn't understand that it's 癌 or what that means. She doesn't know that it's incurable.

'We try to tell her what we feel she can take on without creating too much 苦悩.'

Victoria's main goal is to spend as much time as possible with her family while she still can, creating 肯定的な memories and experiences for her young daughter.

'The 未来 is so uncertain, and one of the things that breaks my heart the most is knowing that she will grow up without me.

'I hope we have a long time together, but it 脅すs me that it'll come to an end before I'm ready.'

Victoria said her husband, Ryan, has been her 激しく揺する throughout her health 旅行 thanks to his 静める and 肉親，親類d demeanour.

'It's terrifying for him, too, knowing he's going to be a 選び出す／独身 father at some point. I don't know how he 対処するs with it いつかs, but he's so strong and caring.'

Victoria's 薬／医学 is 現在／一般に only 持つ／拘留するing the tumours stable.

Doctors 嫌疑者，容疑者／疑う that if Victoria's tumours continue to grow, they will 原因（となる） heart 失敗.

'I have ざっと目を通すs every three months to make sure they're stable and I need to stay on the 医薬 as long as I can. I'm not sure what we'll do if it stops working.

'There's no mainstream 治療 at the moment, so we might have to look for more 実験の ones overseas.'

You can 寄付する to the 基金 to help 支払う／賃金 for Victoria's 医薬 here. 

I thought melanoma was just a mole but now I have tumours on my heart and I won't see my daughter grow up. This is the one 'slight' symptom that I shouldn't have ignored...