Newlywed given shock diagnosis after worrying lumps on her leg were mistaken as FAT


A woman’s body is refusing to accept treatment for her stage-four cancer after a doctor mistakenly dismissed cancerous lumps on her legs and feet as fat.

Gemma Malins, 28, was diagnosed with stage-four metastatic melanoma in October, 2019 despite earlier medical reassurance.

The New Zealand woman, who was studying to be an early childhood teacher, hasn’t been responding to treatment for the aggressive cancer over a year that has spread to her brain and lungs.  

Gemma Malins, 28, (pictured on holiday with her husband Brandon) was diagnosed with stage-four metastatic melanoma in October, 2019

Gemma Malins, 28, (pictured on holiday with her husband Brandon) was diagnosed with stage-four metastatic melanoma in October, 2019

Ms Malins and her partner Brandon accelerated their wedding plans after her shattering diagnosis in 2019 with a form of aggressive cancer

Ms Malins and her partner Brandon accelerated their wedding plans after her shattering diagnosis in 2019 with a form of aggressive cancer 

‘Things haven’t been so good. The treatment I am having every three weeks has stopped working,’ she told 7News.     

Ms Malins said it took a year to be properly diagnosed by doctors, and the melanomas unfortunately have continued to grow.

‘The scans I’ve been having show the melanomas in my stomach had started growing instead of shrinking,’ she said.

‘There is a large one in my pelvis. Sometimes it gets so painful it feels like broken glass in my skin.’

On Friday she started a new treatment that doctors told her is her ‘last option’, an expensive drug called ipilimumab, which is not covered by New Zealand’s drug-funding agency, Pharmac.

She fears the treatment will cost about $50,000, and although her grandmother paid for the first round she has a Givealittle page to help raise the rest.

Ms Malins says the entire process has been so sudden and shocking they haven’t been able to ‘process it’.

‘It changed our whole lives dramatically,’ she said.    

Ms Malins and her partner Brandon, 21, were focused on ticking items off of her bucket list before being forced to undergo the new treatment.

The couple flew to Queenstown from Auckland on September 7, 2020, to celebrate both of their birthdays in ‘holiday of a lifetime’.

The New Zealand woman, who was studying to be an early childhood teacher, hasn't been responding to treatment for the cancer over a year that has spread to her brain and lungs

The New Zealand woman, who was studying to be an early childhood teacher, hasn’t been responding to treatment for the cancer over a year that has spread to her brain and lungs 

She and her partner Brandon, 21, fast-tracked their wedding plans after getting the shattering diagnosis in 2019

She and her partner Brandon, 21, fast-tracked their wedding plans after getting the shattering diagnosis in 2019

What is stage-four metastatic melanoma?

Stage 4 melanoma means the cancer has spread to other parts of the body, such as the lungs, brain, or other organs and tissue. 

It may have also spread to lymph nodes that are a good distance from the original tumor. As such, stage 4 melanoma is often hard to cure with current treatments. 

The pair also fast-tracked their wedding plans after getting the shattering diagnosis.

The couple tied the knot in a small beach ceremony in December 2019 after two weeks of planning. 

Ms Malins described it as the most ‘perfect day’. 

‘We fast tracked the wedding as we just didn’t know what the future held, we still don’t,’ she said. 

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia in July, she shared how she has been left fuming because she first raised her concerns about the lumps with her GP a year earlier.

She saw a doctor who said the lumps on her legs were lipoma, a fatty tissue which can develop under the skin as people age. 

The benign growths are rarely harmful but as the growths spread throughout her body, Ms Malins grew concerned. 

She went to a new GP who broke the news that the lumps could be more serious. 

But she had to endure another three-month wait before she saw a specialist who confirmed the cancer diagnosis.  

Brandon, 20, quit his job as a beekeeper to be by her side throughout the treatment (Pictured: The couple on their wedding day last year)

Brandon, 20, quit his job as a beekeeper to be by her side throughout the treatment (Pictured: The couple on their wedding day last year)

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