I’ve spent less than an hour in sunbeds in my entire life. Around 10 sessions, the longest lasting just six minutes. But even that short exposure has changed my entire life for the worst.

At 23, I heard the words no one expects to hear so young: You have melanoma. It was Stage 1B, and though it shook me, I fought through surgery and scans, and by 2019, I was given the all-clear. I believed that was the end of my cancer story. I was wrong.

In 2023, I became unwell again. After months of tests and uncertainty, I was told the cancer had returned - and this time, it had spread to my organs. Now I’m living with Stage 4 melanoma, undergoing my third treatment, clinging to hope that it will work.

Today, I work in dermatology, helping patients who need skin cancer biopsies. And I see it over and over again: young people, just like I was, facing cancer diagnoses - many with a history of sunbed use. It’s shocking how common it is. And heartbreaking how preventable some of it could be.

Sunbeds are not safe. The World Health Organisation classifies them as a Group 1 carcinogen - the same category as tobacco and asbestos. Using a sunbed before the age of 35 increases your risk of melanoma by up to 75%. Despite this, sunbeds are still legal and widely available in the UK.

Countries like Australia and Brazil have already banned sunbeds to protect public health. It’s time the UK did the same.

This isn’t about blaming people for wanting to look good - it’s about giving them the facts. About preventing suffering. About protecting the next generation from a disease that’s often deadly but can, in some cases, be avoided.

Please, stand with me.
Sign my petition to ban sunbeds in the UK. Help make sure fewer people have to live through what I’m facing now.