Kildare parents issue warning following death of newly married daughter through melanoma

The parents of a young woman from Kildare who died following a battle with skin cancer have spoken out to warn Irish people about the need to protect their skin from harmful UV rays.

Bernie and Peter Rice from Leixlip watched their daughter Sharon walk down the aisle just eight months before she died from melanoma following a two-year battle against the disease in 2008, as the skin cancer spread from her leg to her liver despite undergoing treatment.

After first noticing that a mole on her leg had changed shape she got it looked at and was diagnosed with melanoma, leading her to having an operation to remove a large area of skin from around the area that was diagnosed with malignant melanoma, and she then got married.

"After that operation she seemed to be recuperating well," her mother Bernie is quoted on Independent.ie

"She got married that June, on the longest day of the year. I always remember it, her wedding anniversary only passed there the other day. They were getting ready to move into a new house the following November when she began to feel unwell again.

"She went into St James' and it was discovered that the cancer had spread to the lymph nodes in her thigh. She had an operation to remove those lymph nodes, but in January she was given the news that it had spread to her liver," said Bernie.

Her parents decided to develop a charity in her honour and to help raise awareness around the disease, saying that Sharon had inspired them to do it.

"Sharon was an extremely positive girl, she was so full of life," she said.

"Sharon's positivity inspired us to start the Melanoma Trust because I know if she was here she would be raising awareness. She was so bright and intelligent. She had just gotten married and planned to have a family."

Bernie then warned Irish people of the damaging effects that the sun can have, and she outlined how Irish people don't generally pay heed to the fact that sunburns can cause serious damage.

"Irish people have this idea that the sun here isn't the same as it is abroad or that we don't get the same sun but of course we do. People don't realise that the UVA and UVB rays can come through the clouds and cause damage to our skin.

"People think that when their sunburn heals that's it, but the damage is still there. The thing people don't realise is that it can take years for the melanoma to reach the surface."