Emmerdale actor Liam Fox has shared his eight-year struggle with the NHS before finally receiving a skin cancer diagnosis after being told it was ‘nothing to worry about’.
The 54 year old, who portrayed Dan Spencer on the ITV soap for 12 years before departing in the summer of 2023, underwent surgery earlier this month to remove a ‘carcinoma’ patch which went well.
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But he told The Sun he had ‘been lucky’ and that it could have been fatal if it was a melanoma rather than carcinoma.
He urged others to keep pushing for answers as he revealed he had first become concerned about a small patch of skin on his left temple in 2017.
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Liam, who is now starring in the stage production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, told the publication: “I went to the doctors and they said ‘Oh no, it’s just flakey skin’ it’s fine, it’s nothing to worry about.
“A few weeks later I went back to them again because it was still there, I just wasn’t happy with what they’d told me, it just didn’t feel right.
“I went back again, and they said the same thing, it’s just flakey skin.”
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The actor went back to his doctor and said he was told it was a skin condition.
He was given cream and said it initially cleared the area, but it came back a year or so later.
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He returned to his GP to be given more cream, and again the patch cleared. But he was also sent for tests at hospital.
Liam told how a test of the area came back negative, and said he was told doctors wanted to check it again six months later.
When he claimed had heard nothing six months later, he rang the hospital as the patch was still there and was bleeding.
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He said he was told ‘Well you’ll just have to wait in the queue like everyone else, we’re not concerned’.
After receiving a hospital appointment, Liam said: “The doctor that I saw admitted that I should have been seen much sooner.”
He added: “It was January 2024 by this point. They finally told me that it was a ‘carcinoma’ we’ll have to get that out.
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“They don’t grow very quickly but we’ll get it sorted. I saw the doctor again and they said it would be six months before they could get it sorted.
“I rang again at the beginning of February and said ‘am I going to get this sorted, it’s ridiculous’ and they sorted an appointment the following week.”
He praised the surgeon for his care despite the initial issues.
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Following his surgery, Liam said ‘everything is healing nicely’.
