SINÉAD GIBNEY SAID she’s had a “tough few months” after getting diagnosed with melanoma last summer.
The Social Democrats TD told Today with David McCullagh on RTÉ Radio 1 that the diagnosis had a “big impact” on her, and she now wants to help raise awareness about the damage sun exposure can do.
Melanoma is considered the most serious form of skin cancer, but it is highly curable if caught early.
Gibney said she found a suspicious mole last year, which she had removed. When it was found to be cancerous, she had to undergo a wide incision, which removes tissue in the area to help prevent cancer recurrence.
Fortunately, the cancer had not entered her lymphatic system. Another mole was later identified and removed. It was found to be benign.
“It’s been a tough few months,” Gibney said.
“It’s not pleasant dealing with melanoma.”
She’s been left with a 20cm scar on her arm from surgery.
UV exposure
Gibney, who just turned 50, said that when she was growing up in the late ’70s and early ’80s, it was “normal” to be unprotected in the sun.
“Peeling was my favourite thing to do on holiday,” she quipped.
“In my childhood I definitely burned.”
Gibney also had severe psoriasis throughout her teenage years and her 20s, for which she received UV treatment.
“I actually have two decades of sunbed treatments – hospital-administered sunbed treatments,” she said.
“It’s different to commercial [sunbeds] but it still does contribute.”
Gibney says she doesn’t want people who use sunbeds for aesthetic reasons to be judged, “but the reality is that these products are dangerous”.
Under EU law, sunscreen is currently classed as a cosmetic product, meaning it is taxed at the standard national VAT rate, which in Ireland is 23%, the same as for make-up or perfume.
There are calls for the added tax to be scrapped.
Member states were previously successful in lobbying for the directive to be amended to allow period products to be VAT-exempt.
Changing habits
Gibney said that while she is “out the other side” now and only needs routine monitoring, the diagnosis changed how she engages with the sun.
“I wouldn’t say I’ve been terribly diligent (with sunscreen before), but I never really sat in the sun,” she said.
“I always did burn, so it was never really my kind of activity.”
She said right after she was diagnosed she was due to go to the United States on summer holiday, but she had to change her plans while she figured out how she would take care of her skin.
“It’s not just sun cream for me now. I want to properly cover myself with clothes in the sun,” she said.
“I feel very different now in the sun. I feel the damage that it’s doing.
“I look very differently on my loved ones who are going brown this week.”
She said it’s taken her time to “process” her cancer journey, but she now wants to speak about it, so that others can understand the risks the sun poses.