Twenty-five-year-old Maria Sylvia has had a “cool” brown stripe under her fingernail for the last 10 years of her life. The young woman took pride in her “cool streak” before discovering the truth about it in a popular TikTok video.
When Sylvia initially noticed the mark on her thumb, she thought it was just a normal mole on her nailbed. Nine years later, however, a doctor discovered that Sylvia had subungual melanoma, a rare type of skin cancer that develops beneath the nails.
In a TikTok video that has received over 19 million views in only two weeks, Sylvia shared her news with friends and followers. In order to learn more about subungual melanoma and the risk it can cause to someone who has it, more and more people keep watching her video.
She captioned the video, “Me: Having this for ten years, thinking it was a cool streak in my nail, It’s cancer.”
Sylvia made the decision to release a series of updates as TikTok videos since she noticed that there was a lot of curiosity in her post about the skin cancer that was developing beneath her thumbnail.
When she first observed it in December 2012, she explained that the stripe was very faint. But it grew more serious until she, at last, understood that she had a rare type of cancer, as the years passed.
She said, “I had seen doctors. I was in and out of doctors’ [offices] all the time. I was an athlete, so I was getting physicals every year,”
“No one really noticed it until one time a doctor did notice it. This was probably circa 2014, and they were like, ‘Oh, that’s odd, but you don’t really fit the demographics, so if it just grows any bigger, go and see a doctor.’ So, of course, by then, I am pretty sure that it already grew to its fullest extent.”
She never sought treatment for the “cool streak” under her fingernail because she never experienced any problems with it. She said, “I didn’t have any pain with it, so I just figured it was a mole because that’s what they told me, that it was most likely a mole in my nailbed.”
Luckily, a friend advised her to get a biopsy. Cancer was the end result. It was stage 0, which meant cancer had not spread beyond the top layer of her skin.
“I was informed that this cancer can stay in situ (also known as stage 0) for 10-13 years before hitting stage 1. I felt relief that I got it looked at when I did, but I knew there was more to come for getting rid of this cancer.”
The time has come for everyone to get screened for cancer, according to Sylvia.
She said, “I think some people are afraid to confront the possibility of having cancer and facing their mortality,”
“The biggest thing I have urged is to put your mind at ease and follow through with seeing someone. If this is caught early, it is very curable, and having a wonky thumb for a month or two is better than not having one at all,” she added.
Watch the video below:
@frankenthumbb Reply to @alec558 here ya go! Pt. 1
Sources: AWM, DailyMail, Independent, Newsweek