Drudge Links: 'Tanorexic' young mother dies of skin cancer after 7 years of sunbeds

[Editor-in-Chief]

'Tanorexic' young mother dies of skin cancer after seven years of sunbeds

Last updated at 00:54am on 6th July 2007
Comments (9)

Zita Farrelly began using a sunbed at the age of 14 and saved up to buy one when she landed her first job.

For seven years she had tanning sessions twice a day. When her worried mother stopped her using the sunbed more than twice a week she borrowed a friend's.

Miss Farrelly gave up sunbeds at 21 but by then it was too late. The mother of two contracted skin cancer and last month died aged 29 from the disease.

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Tragic: Zita Farrelly started using sunbeds when she was 14 and gave them up at 21 but by then it was too late

Miss Farrelly found a mole on her leg last August and was diagnosed with melanoma.

Doctors told her they believed the skin cancer was caused because she spent so much time on sunbeds. She received chemotherapy and other treatment at the Christie cancer hospital in Manchester, but specialists were unable to save her.

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Zita with her partner Phil Burtwistle. He said that sunbeds had 'destroyed the family's life'

Miss Farrelly, from Salford, died three days after her daughter's first birthday. Her partner and her aunt warned others of the danger of sunbeds. Phil Burtwistle said the machines had "destroyed the family's lives".

He said: "Zita told me days before she died that she wished she could make a documentary about the dangers of using them.

"She said if only one person was saved by seeing what had happened to her, she'd be happy. People need to know that they can be so dangerous.

"I've basically spent the last year watching my girlfriend die before my eyes. I don't want any family to go through what I went through and I think people should avoid sunbeds at all costs.

"It's hard because they are on every street corner but there are other ways to tan, such as spray tans and the fake moisturisers you can get."

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Zita Farrelly, a mother of two, died just three days after her daughter's first birthday


Miss Farrelly would have celebrated her 30th birthday on July 18. Her aunt, Tina Farrelly, appealed for others to learn from her niece's death.

"I see young girls coming out of tanning salons burned and looking like lobsters," she said. "I feel like grabbing them and telling them what can happen. If they knew the pain Zita went through, I'm sure it would make them stop using them."

Mrs Farrelly added: "She saved up for a sunbed when she got her first job. Her mum stopped her using it more than a couple of times a week but she would go to a friend's house to use theirs.

"When fake tans and health warnings came out she stopped using them but unfortunately she stopped too late."

Mr Burtwistle said one of Miss Farrelly's final wishes was to see her daughter Phebie with her presents on her first birthday. "She battled on and managed to keep herself awake to see that," he said. "But soon after she fell asleep and never woke up again."

Mr Burtwistle said "the worst thing" is knowing that Phebie and her seven-year-old brother Caldhan will have to grow up without their mother.

"Although Phebie is too young to know what is going on Caldhan is finding it really hard to cope," he said.

"He's all right while he is busy but as soon as he stops he really misses his mother."

Miss Farrelly's funeral, which is taking place today at St James Roman Catholic Church in Salford, will be a celebration of the former telephonist's life.

Mrs Farrelly said: "Nobody is allowed to wear black and we've asked everyone to bring helium-filled balloons to release when she's buried. Her coffin is fluorescent pink and she'll be in a carriage drawn by Shire horses."

Mr Burtwistle added: "She picked what she wanted for the funeral and would hate people to be upset. It should be a happy occasion."

Source

[Jim Fisher]

And the brain washing continues.

Doctors told her they believed the skin cancer was caused because she spent so much time on sunbeds

Ahhh.. No concrete evidence again.. Just a wild guess.. Look into her genes you idiots.

[glowgirl35]

I agree, it's sad but tanning twice a day, first of all, we don't allow. Genetics plays a huge role and the boyfriend complaining about spray and tinted moisturizers. People die all the time, tan or not, why are we always the ones to blame?

[Editor-in-Chief]

FoxNews is running the story.

[esun]

the title of this story should be"'Tanorexic' young mother dies of skin cancer after seven years of sunbed abuse!"

[Ezliving_Jim]

Cancer death family back sunbed report




PHIL Burtwhistle, 25, and his partner Zita Farrelly, 29, who lost her life to skin

THE FAMILY of a young mum who tragically died last month from skin cancer have welcomed new research which claims 80 per cent of sunbeds are dangerous.

Zita Farrelly was just 29 when she died from skin cancer in June, which spread rapidly from a mole in her leg. Doctors told the mum-of-two that the condition was probably caused by the radiation from sunbeds, which she used regularly for the past 10 years.

This week, a study has found that four out of five sunbeds emit dangerous levels of cancer-causing ultraviolet radiation.

More than 80 per cent of sunbeds transmit UVB, the most damaging type of UV ray, at levels above European and British standards, according to the study in the British Journal of Dermatology.

Zita’s aunt, Tina Farrelly, said that the survey backed up the beliefs of her family.

Tina, who lives in Emmeline Grange in Seedley, said: “The results of this study really speak for themselves really.

“More and more people need to know the dangers of sunbeds, and I’m pleased that this survey has been published.

“We want to do anything to stop other families going through what we went through when Zita died.”

The study, which calls for sunbed operators to be regulated, found many users started using tanning booths young, and continued to do so for many years. Almost half started using sunbeds between the ages of 16 and 24, with a quarter using them for 10 years or more. More than half had one session a fortnight, with a quarter visiting weekly.

The study comes after a survey of 2,000 adults for skin-care company Nivea last week found two-thirds thought a tan made a woman more attractive, and 60 per cent of women believed a sunbed tan could cover up cellulite and wrinkles.

But one local woman has stopped using the potentially lethal machines after hearing Zita’s story.

Yvonne Wallace, who lives in Claremont, is the same age as Zita was when she died - just 29 - and used to go on sunbeds regularly.

But when she read Zita’s story in the Advertiser, Yvonne was forced to stop and think about what she was doing.

She said: “I’d been using sunbeds on and off for about the last five years. I didn’t use them all the time - just when I’d been going on holiday, or when I’d just come back, to top up my tan.

“I really felt for Zita, and when I heard her story, I decided that I would never use sunbeds again.”

Yvonne also has a young daughter, Tonicha, 10, and didn’t want to leave her without a mother. She has now vowed never to go to a tanning salon again.

Source

[W8INLINE]

And to think.... had she tanned RESPONSIBLY at a TANNING SALON following the smart tan rules of moderation, she WOULD BE ALIVE today...

I think selling a tanning bed for home use should be illegal.

[sunsally]

Should selling cigarettes for home use be illegal?

Lung cancer is the #1 cancer killer, by a very large margin.

[Din]

Explain how people die from lung cancer and never smoked in their lives......please and thanks......Second hand smoke....uh huh....sure...that's it.

They say second hand smoke is twice as bad......THEN TAKE UP SMOKING....50% better chance of living! !!!!

[sunsally]

Well, I'm quite sure that smoking isn't the ONLY cause of lung cancer. And that there is not a 100% causational link that ALL smokers will die of lung cancer and NO non-smokers will. Certainly pollution and other factors (above and beyond second-hand smoke) have an impact.

But -- it IS the number one cancer killer.

While melanoma isn't even in the top 10 of cancer deaths.

So if you aren't going to ban cigarettes, I don't see any reason to ban tanning beds - in salons or for homes.

[Brian Oshman]

Her coffin is fluorescent pink and she'll be in a carriage drawn by Shire horses."

They should have buried her in her tanning bed powered by a three phase generator.

[Brian Oshman]

While melanoma isn't even in the top 10 of cancer deaths.

I don't think it is even the top 100.

Most malignant melanoma tumors are easily removed and suvival rate is very high. It is on the skin which is the top layer and easy to treat. It is not like other cancers that attack vital organs and are dangerous to remove thus increasing drastically the death rate statistic on cancerous deaths.

All cancer is bad but let's stop pooling them all into one category.

On another note:

Let's just stop with the banning $h!t altogether.

[Brian Oshman]

Just read this again, She was 29, she looks 50+.

There was way more wrong with her then melanoma. The tanning probably kept her alive longer then wilting away in a dark hospital room.

[Din]

Originally Posted by Ezliving_Jim

Cancer death family back sunbed report




PHIL Burtwhistle, 25, and his partner Zita Farrelly, 29, who lost her life to skin

Lost her life to SKIN???? JESUS.....i gotta get rid of mine before it's the death of me.