Grange Hill star Lee MacDonald has put all his energy into campaigning after experiencing two terrifying cancer scares in 18 months. The Zammo McGuire actor had his first cancer scare last year after a "little black spot" appeared on his eye, which he initially brushed off as a mole.
He was more 'annoyed' by it due to its close proximity to his eye but, after it started 'weeping', his wife encouraged him to see a doctor, which still didn't cause Lee to worry. "Cancer didn't even cross my mind going into the doctor’s. I went there purely because it was annoying me, and it was there, and I wanted to get rid of it," he recalled of the doctor's visit as he explained how he thought it would turn out to be a harmless mole or pimple.
"So I thought, a bit of cream and it'll go." However, his world soon turned upside down when the doctor told him the black spot looked like cancer.
"And [the doctor] said, it looks like a BCC. I said, 'What's the BCC?' He said, 'It's a skin cancer.' Honestly, my heart sank. I sat there for two or three minutes without saying anything, and then when I got downstairs to where my friend Andy was picking me up... I sat in the car and I cried for an hour.
"I just sat there crying because that word cancer just really scared me. And you hear horror stories with cancer."
BCC, or basal cell carcinoma, is a common type of skin cancer that starts on the top layer of the skin, the NHS says. A BCC is a 'non-melanoma skin cancer can often be easily treated'.
While his friend tried to keep him calm, he couldn't help but think about how his life could change so drastically because of one tiny spot. "So all this period of time in my head, I'm thinking, I've got cancer, which was horrible," he revealed.
Lee returned to the doctor's for another biopsy and learned the spot wasn't cancerous, despite the doctor's initial fears. Although it was the positive news he wanted to hear, he gained a new perspective on his health as he teamed up with O2's campaign in partnership with The British Skin Foundation to highlight the importance of sun safety.
Earlier this month, Lee found a rash on his face that he first assumed was from shaving. "Because I was shaving every other day and it would bleed, I just thought it's a rash where I'm shaving on it, I'm just aggravating it, so it's never going to clear up."
Lee stopped shaving around it to see if the problem would stop persisting, but nothing changed. He quickly booked an appointment with the doctor for a check-up and learned it was actually keratosis, a rash with pre-cancerous cells. When he was told of the diagnosis, his first thought was: "Oh, not again."
The EastEnders star will soon be getting the rash burnt off, which will 'hopefully get rid of it'. "So hopefully, you know, it will get rid of it. But again, quite scary. So that's two scares in 18 months," the actor told us.
Between the ages 16 and 26, Lee used to spend an hour a week using sun beds – split between Tuesday and Thursday. He still used it despite 'going bright red and then going white again the next day'. Lee admitted: "I just felt that it made me feel a bit better, a bit tan."
In a stark warning, Lee urged men and women to get their skin checked and 'protect themselves'. He begged: "If you've got something there, go and get it checked, please."
