A mum-of-three was left with a gaping hole in her foot after what she believed was a troublesome verruca turned out to be cancer.
Rachel Solvason began suffering from a pain which felt like glass sticking in the bottom of her foot in the summer of 2016.
With over-the-counter cream failing to shift the then penny sized growth, the 40-year-old visited her GP.
Rachel's doctor agreed it looked like a verruca, but a swab showed no evidence of the virus.
She was referred to hospital for a biopsy which led her to be diagnosed with malignant melanoma - a type of skin cancer - six months after she first noticed the sore spot on her foot.
Surgeons removed a lot of tissue in order to get rid of all the cancer, leaving Rachel, from Worcestershire, in need of plastic surgery to replace part of her heel.
The mum-of-three spoke of how she dismissed the growth as a minor ailment for months.
"Everyone I showed it to thought it was a verruca too, but by Christmas it had become the size of a penny and was quite sore to walk on," she said.
"The diagnosis was so hard to take in. I've always loved the sun but I'm sure the rest of my body has seen more sun than the sole of my foot.
"Even the consultant was shocked as it didn't look like a typical melanoma and it was in an unusual place.
"I was even more shocked that I had to go home and tell my two boys I had cancer.
"The dermatologist decided to remove it there and then, so I was left with a gaping hole in the bottom of my foot."
Following further surgery to remove the cancer at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, she noticed a lump in her groin In November 2017.
Rachel, an administrator at a GP surgery, added: "They thought it was just a cyst and I was told to enjoy my Christmas.
"But in between Christmas and New Year 2018 the biopsy results came back and showed the lump in my groin was in fact melanoma. I was devastated."
Despite surgeons removing all her lymph nodes in January, by the summer of 2018 the melanoma in her leg had returned.
CT and MRI scans then revealed cancer in one of her lungs and in her stomach lining.
The tumour in her stomach was removed, but surgery on her lung was impossible, meaning she had to begin a course of immunotherapy.
Months later Rachel is cancer free but receives treatment every four weeks, as the melanoma is likely to return.
Rachel is now raising money for Stand Up To Cancer, a joint fundraising campaign from Cancer Research UK and Channel 4.
Along with two of her sons, Josh, 20, and Ciaran, 15, the mum is sporting bright socks and orange tutus to encourage people to dress up and raise money for the cause.
Rachel, who is also mum to Lewis, 22, said: "Having cancer has been a massive rollercoaster but the worst thing about it was having to tell my sons each time it was discovered in a new place.
"To be told you're in the clear and then to be told it has spread further. Then having another operation. Its just been hard on the whole family.
"I'm a feisty person, I've had to be, and it gives me great pleasure to kick back at cancer by jazzing up my damaged foot and joining the Stand Up To Cancer campaign.
"I've given permission for all my samples and results to be used for research as I know science is our best way of defeating this horrible disease."
