Overview

• Lily Murphy was first diagnosed with stage 1B melanoma in 2019 after fewer than ten sunbed sessions and saw her cancer recur as stage 4 in 2023 following persistent chest and back pain.
• Her initial A&E visits were dismissed as anxiety until her mother arranged specialist scans that revealed metastases in her lungs and neck.
• After immunotherapy and oral chemotherapy treatments triggered severe allergic reactions and sepsis, she began a new February 2025 regimen that has already reduced her tumour size.
• In May, she launched a petition to ban sunbeds in the UK, arguing the devices pose a preventable cancer risk and impose high treatment costs on the NHS.
• As an administrative clerk in a dermatology department, Murphy reports a surge in young patients referred for biopsies linked to sunbed use.