Steven Shanks still wears shorts even though they may have given him cancer.
The 39-year-old father from Blackburn was diagnosed with melanoma in 2020 after a friend spotted a large mole on his right calf.
Doctors told Steven – a keen mountain biker – that years of wearing shorts and no sun cream while out in the Scottish sun had finally caught up with him.
He now sports an impressive scar on his leg where surgeons successfully cut out the cancer cells.
But despite this, Steven is not ready to ditch the habit of a lifetime.
When he lines up at the start of the Garioch half marathon on Sunday May 14, where he will run on behalf of Aberdeen cancer support group Clan, he’ll be in his usual shorts.
With one crucial addition.
“It’ll be factor 50 all the way,” Steven says with a laugh. “Sun cream and shorts.”
Skin cancer on the rise in Scotland
Steven’s cancer experience, which left him with 35 stitches on his calf and involved the removal of a lymph node from his groin, is a reminder that even in Scotland the sun’s UV rays can have serious consequences.
Across the UK, skin cancer is on the increase – according to figures from Cancer Research, one in five people will get it during their lifetimes.
Last month, the British Association of Dermatologists (BAD) issued new guidance that calls for people in Scotland to slap on sunscreen for at least one-third of the year.
In some parts of the UK, the recommendation is for half of the year.
The advice is partly a reaction to trends for bronzed bodies displayed on shows such as Love Island.
For Steven, however, his melanoma nightmare wasn’t because he wanted to look beach-ready. It was from a passion for Scotland’s great outdoors.
“I was an extreme sports guy – mountain biking, primarily but snowboarding as well,” he says.
Growing up in Edzell, he was out on his bike all the time, cycling to the top of the Cairn o’ Mount or into the glens.
He remembers getting sunburned, but like everyone else he’d just shrug it off. Yes, the reddened skin stung in the shower, but that was all the thought he gave it.
As for protection, “you never really thought about sun cream much – you’re in Scotland,” he says.
An incident in Fort William that changed Steven’s life
Then, in 2019, Steven was at the Mountain Bike World Cup in Fort William when a friend pointed to a mole on his leg.
“Typical bloke, I said, ‘Oh it’s nothing, it’ll be fine’,” Steven recalls.
But something itched at the back of his mind
“It was six or seven millimeters across, I guess slightly raised,” Steven says of the mole. “It was brown, and it had a little pink spot in the middle. That kind of worried me a bit.”
So, when his brother remarked on it a few months later while on holiday, Steven finally thought he should probably get the mole checked.
Still, it took some prodding from his wife Emma before he spoke to a doctor.
Numerous video call consultations and a biopsy later, a consultant told Steven he had a malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer often caused by exposure to sun.
“I was like, wow! Okay,” he says. “It was a real lightheaded moment. Though, the way the consultant put it was that if you’re going to get cancer this is the one you want.”
Steven eventually received a skin graft treatment called a keystone flap procedure that removed a large piece of the skin but kept blood vessels intact. Also, to stop the cancer cells reforming, surgeons removed the lymph node.
Steven remembers waking up from the general anesthetic and looking down.
“Sure enough, there’s this huge shark bite on my leg with 35 stitches. It was a good scar to talk about.”
Raising money for cancer support group Clan at Garioch marathon
The shark bite has healed nicely since the operation, and has not affected Steven’s outdoor pursuits.
For the Garioch half marathon on May 14, he’s aiming for a time under two hours, cheered on by Emma and daughter Frida, who was born in January.
But his focus is raising money for Clan, a charity that he has a new-found respect for after going through the trauma of cancer.
Though Steven admits his cancer was comparatively minor, he remembers the utmost relief he felt when doctors eventually told him he was clear.
“Up until that point, I’d kind of be quite jovial about the whole thing and upbeat,” he says. “But at that moment, when the relief was off, I was in floods of tears.”
Meanwhile, he has a message for anyone going outdoors this summer.
“Make sure you’ve at least got a layer of protection on,” he says. “Because what happened to me can happen to anyone.”
To donate to Steven’s Just Giving page for running the Garioch half marathon and help Clan with its cancer support work, click here.
Conversation