County Durham woman with skin cancer urging people to wear sun cream
Temperatures expected to reach 30 degrees this weekend
A County Durham woman with a skin cancer is warning people to wear plenty of sun cream if we are heading out to enjoy another heatwave.
Temperatures expected to reach 30 degrees this weekend across the North East and Teesside.
Karen Read is from Darlington and she was diagnosed with melanoma after noticing changes to moles on her leg and chest.
She said: "There's no such thing as 'it's just skin cancer.' It's serious. Until it happens to you you know 'oh, I don't care.' You might be going on that sunbed, you might be having that barbecue, laid on that beach putting just oil on but believe me, you want to be able to live a full life.
"It's just being careful and putting that sun cream on. I can't state enough how important it is.
"When you're first diagnosed with melanoma, it's very scary and I think the first year in the sun, I'm now on my second year in the sun, I'm just really careful. I tend to cover up, I always have sun cream on.
"Melanoma doesn't pick itself candidate. It doesn't matter if you have dark skin, you're fair skin, it's on the rise and it's quite a serious cancer.
"There's no such thing as a safe tan. What I do is I have a spray tan when I'm going anywhere special and definitely use a lot of fake tan. They're really good, you get a mitten, pop it on and it's better than a sun tan and better than going abroad."
Alex Deakin is from the Met Office and he said: "We're seeing three heatwaves now across the UK in a little under a month and that's pretty unusual. We have hot summers and we have cool summers but with our changing climate, it's something we need to expect. We need to expect higher temperatures and more extreme temperatuers as well.
"The UV levels are going to be high or very high through this week. If you're working outside, make sure you've got the sunscreen on. If you're outside in the peak heat of the day, between 11am and 3pm, or when the sun's at its strongest, wear a cap, seek shade, make sure you're staying hydrated and drink plenty of water.
"Try and avoid being outside at those peak times. Draw your curtains during the day so the heat doesn't come in, don't necessarily open your windows because often it's hotter outside than it is inside, so if you open the windows during the day, you're just going to let the heat in.
"Try and adapt to the heat as much as possible, drinking plenty of fluids, staying out of the sun as much as you can and check in as well, if you know someone's particularly vulnerable to heat, elderly relatives, young people especially. It can have serious impacts, so just make sure you're checking in on your neighbours as well."