Katherine Ryan has revealed she was left stunned after being slapped with a £6,000 bill this week for a simple blood test to support her post-cancer care.
The comedian, 41, detailed the shocking incident on Sunday as she gave an update on her health following her recent diagnosis of early-stage melanoma, a type of skin cancer, for the second time.
Last week, she had the cancerous mole and surrounding tissue removed.
The mother-of-three said: 'I have been just handling all the follow-up for the melanoma.
'Waiting for the histology was really peaceful because I knew after the second removal, everything from that area would be gone. And it was confirmed as gone.'
Katherine had an appointment this week at the Cadogan Clinic in Chelsea, where she was told that while she's in the clear, she does have a benign haemangioma in her liver - 'something that 20 percent of people have from birth, and they're not worried about it'.
Katherine Ryan has revealed she was left stunned after being slapped with a £6,000 bill this week for a simple blood test to support her post-cancer care
The comedian, 41, detailed the shocking incident on Sunday as she gave an update on her health following her recent diagnosis of early-stage melanoma, a type of skin cancer , for the second time
Katherine said she doesn't need any further treatment at the moment, but the oncologist offered her an in vitro genetics test to help detect any other potential health issues.
She agreed to it and arranged to have it done at her home in London, where she lives with her three children and husband Bobby Kootstra.
Sharing details of the visit on the latest episode of her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, she said: 'This company was so amazing and really attentive right away.
'I got an email right after my meeting with the oncologist from the patient coordinator who was like, we are going to do this DNA test, we just have to take some of your blood and we're gonna send someone to your house to get it. I was like, perfect!
'The guy shows up - an absolute hunk. A very well-dressed, young, Selling Sunset type,' she says, referring to the attractive cast of the US reality series.
'It was a great experience. The phlebotomist took my blood quickly and everyone looked after me very well.'
However, events soon took a turn. 'They leave, and then seconds later into my inbox, I get the bill. Six grand!
'Six thousand pounds for the blood test. I thought, oh god, I knew that Selling Sunset hunk was too premium.'
Katherine said she doesn't need any further treatment at the moment, but the oncologist offered her an in vitro genetics test to help detect any other potential health issues
She agreed to it and arranged to have it done at her home in London, where she lives with her three children and husband Bobby Kootstra
Sharing details of the visit on the latest episode of her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything, she said: 'This company was so amazing and really attentive right away'
However, events soon took a turn. 'They leave, and then seconds later into my inbox, I get the bill. Six grand!'
'I showed Bobby and that was my biggest mistake. He was like, 'What?! A blood test!?' And I was like, you know what though Bobby, if it saves your life, then that's very little.
'I just think you can't be too careful with this stuff. I'm very lucky to have access to this kind of thing.'
The Canadian-born star is yet to find out the results of her £6,000 test.
'My understanding is it can test tumours and it can test your blood and it can test your DNA for exactly what type of cancer you may have, or what type of cancer gene,' she explained.
'Like, I may have a melanoma gene. I don't know what they can do with that information - I think there are some medications to turn that gene off - but they do in vitro testing on your specific DNA.
'So they take your DNA and put it in glass and they use a variety of treatments on the specific genome that you have, and it will show what works best for you.
'Just to be clear, I don't need any other treatments at the minute. We're just doing investigative preventative stuff. It's a little trial and error before they land on the thing that works for you or for that specific type of cancer that you're dealing with.'
Katherine added that despite the eye-watering price tag that came with her private test, she was glad she did it.
'If you are undergoing any type of cancer investigations or treatments and you are doing that through the NHS, I think ask your NHS doctor if they do in vitro genetic testing to see what type of treatment is right for you.'
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004.
Speaking on her podcast, Telling Everybody Everything last week, she explained: 'The only reason that they agreed to remove it was because I went to a fancy private place in South Kensington and I paid them a grand.
'I don't know if on the NHS they ever would have removed this mole.'
While the Canadian comic did not trust the NHS would have removed the mole, she revealed she faced different problems while seeing private doctors.
She explained that she had paid £300 for a seven-minute consultation with a doctor, who wrongly informed her the mole wasn't cancerous.
Yet she was inspired to keep pushing with her concerns after following Teddi Mellencamp's journey.
The Real Housewives star, 43, has been battling skin cancer since 2022 and this year revealed doctors had found three tumours in her brain.
Katherine recalled: 'He gave me the news that I wanted! I think it's really easy to take a diagnosis of you're healthy and walk away, you go ''great I'm healthy'' and you don't think about it again because that is the easiest news.
'But the mole kept changing - I know a lot about melanoma, I had a melanoma as a very young woman, stage two on my leg - and I've spoken about that before.'
She continued: 'Even that didn't look traditionally like melanoma to me, fair enough it had some discolouration and asymmetry and a bit of black and red. It was a flat mole, not that bad and not that big, but it was stage two melanoma so that was bad.
'I had to have full general anesthetic and surgery to have a golf-ball size of my leg because - if you know about melanoma, you know it's a deadly form of skin cancer and it spreads quickly.'
Discussing her current cancer battle, she went on: 'I just felt like this mole wasn't right. It's on my arm, I showed pictures of it on social media, this is like the hole from having it removed.
'I went in and I wanted the doctor to remove a bigger piece of it and stitch it up in a straight line.
'But even when he looked at it, he was like 'not melanoma, totally fine, I will do the shave and send it away for histology and if there's any borders that we missed, then we will do the deeper cut'.'
Yet the test confirmed that she needed the deeper cut, and she continued: 'It just feels crazy to me, like what could have happened if I hadn't been my own advocate - and I will continue to be my own advocate.
'If I hadn't pushed, if I had taken that good answer the first time and walked away. Then I would have had melanoma just growing and spreading in my arm and I would say 'oh no the doctor says it's fine, it's fine' and god knows how far that would have gone.'
Katherine shared her shock at the diagnosis, revealing how she has been careful to protect her skin.
Explaining how she broke the news to husband Bobby Kootstra, she shared: 'I was upset when I called [Bobby] because I feel very lucky but I also feel like what the f**k?
'It's not ideal to have melanoma twice in your life and I obviously have a genetic predisposition, I am someone with type one, Celtic skin, I have over 100 moles.
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004
She said previously: 'The cancer wasn't that serious. It wasn't into my lymph nodes, I didn't have to have chemotherapy'
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'I don't go in the sun, I wear SPF all the time, I cover my body, I cover my arms, I cover my face, but here's my second go with melanoma that I know of! I'm thinking f**k what other moles do I need to get checked?'
She added in a TikTok video: 'This time luckily I caught it early, I don't think it has spread.'
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004.
She said previously: 'The cancer wasn't that serious. It wasn't into my lymph nodes, I didn't have to have chemotherapy.
'It did recur, but it was easily dealt with. I feel like I was really lucky just to get that lesson, that little smack on the a**e of 'Hey, wait a minute. Listen to your body, here.'
