A woman with terminal melanoma has issued a stark warning to the public to ensure the same thing doesn't happen to others.
According to Buzzfeed, 27-year-old Kassidy Pierson first noticed a small mole growing on her inner at the age of just 18 - a mole that was itchy, dry, and bled intermittently.
Kassidy didn't have health insurance and was pregnant with her son at the time, and thus didn't think that the tiny spot was a big deal.
Two years later, at the age of 21, Kassidy finally got herself health insurance and decided to get the spot checked out. It was then that the doctor delivered her the fatal news: she had melanoma - a deadly form of skin cancer - and it was spreading.
Her cancer worsened to stage three; spreading to her lymph nodes, and then metastasized further into stage four, meaning that she was forced to undergo multiple surgeries, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy, among other treatments.
Sadly, after a six-year-long battle, doctors informed Kassidy that her cancer was now terminal and that she was going to be moved to a hospice to undergo palliative care.
Take a look at Kassidy's inspirational video right here:Despite the fact that she currently does not know how long she has left to live, whether the allotted span is measurable in days, weeks, months, or years, Kassidy recently uploaded a video urging other people to screen themselves to avoid her own fate.
The video, which has Kassidy showing her 217,000 followers the spot on her thigh that later lead to her illness, has clearly resonated with other TikTok users - racking up over 1.5 million views, at the time of writing.
Commenting on the motivation behind her content in a recent interview with Buzzfeed, Kassidy stated:
"I'm hoping my journey will help others and save people from making the mistake in waiting to go to the dermatologist to get their skin checked because they’ll have to pay.
"I hope they learn from me. The earlier you get checked, the better. It could save your life."
She added: "The newfound support from TikTok has been amazing. The similar stories, the kind acts of strangers gifting things, and saying the most positive and uplifting things to get me through the day, has been absolutely amazing."
