I lost an ear through addiction to the sun: Doctors amputate to save nurse's life

From 14 years old, Sue Riddell was using tanning salons four times a week and sunbathing up to 15 hours a day, without protecting her ears.
When she noticed a tiny scab on her right ear, she first blamed it on her hair straighteners.
But it turned out to be a stage-two melanoma, and surgeons had to amputate her ear to save her life.
She said: ‘I couldn’t believe such a small area of skin on the ear could risk my life.
‘I got cancer because I loved the sun too much. On holiday I would be the first on the sunbed in the morning and the last to leave at night.
‘I rarely used sun cream and when I did I never thought to put it on my ears. I just didn’t think of cancer.’
Mrs Riddell, a hospital theatre nurse from Harborne, Birmingham, now has a prosthetic lobe made out of rubber, which is clipped on to two titanium brackets which are screwed into her skull.

‘I can still hear perfectly but now I have to take my right ear off when I go to bed,’ she said. ‘It was devastating to lose my ear and I worried how I’d look but it saved my life so the sacrifice was worth it.’
Mrs Riddell used to go on four beach holidays a year with husband Philip, 60, a GP, and two sons Nathan, 19, and Matthew, 22.

Sun worshipper: Sue Riddell used to spend up to 15 hours a day sunbathing

She said: ‘We’d go anywhere hot like Spain, Portugal, Corfu, the Maldives and Australia. I loved the sun and being outside on holiday. I had no idea it was killing me.
‘I just thought having a tan was healthy and I felt great after a day in the sun.’
But when she went back to work in July 2009 a colleague pointed out the scab on her ear.
Mrs Riddell then went to see a GP who told her just to keep an eye on it. But by September the scab was still on her ear and she underwent a biopsy.

Fake ear: Sue Riddell's new ear (right) and how it looks without her prosthetic

She said: ‘The GP told me: “I’m very sorry, it’s melanoma. You have cancer and I’m sorry but it might have spread.”
‘I couldn’t believe it. I just crumpled in my chair. I know as a nurse how serious it is and I just thought to myself, “I’ve killed myself by sunbathing”.’
Mrs Riddell was referred to University Hospital Birmingham where, on November 19, 2009, she had an operation to remove the ear. Weeks later she was given the all clear.
And last March Mrs Riddell had her artificial ear fitted which was moulded to look exactly like her old one, including an ear piercing.
She has to go for tests every three months to make sure the cancer has not returned.
‘I almost lost my life because I didn’t cover up,’ she said.
‘Getting a tan is just not worth risking your life.’