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A New Zealand mom credits a complete strangers with saving her life after he warned her about the worrisome mole on her back.
Wearing shorts and a tank top, 47-year-old Christine Burnie assumed the stranger talking to her in line at a West Auckland hardware store was simply hitting on her.
“[He] said to me, ‘Excuse me, love, you know you have a black mole on your back you should be really concerned about.’ At first, I thought he was trying to hit on me— I thought, ‘That’s a nice line,'” she told the New Zealand Herald.
But soon Burnie learned that the man’s 25-year-old niece had passed away from melanoma and urged her to get the dark mole checked out.
With a teenager at home, Burnie knew she couldn’t take any chances with her health, so she made an appointment with her doctor.
To her shock and horror, the man at the hardware store was right—the mole was malignant melanoma.
“I said, ‘I can’t die, I’m far too young, and I’ve got a teenager, an only child. I can’t,'” Burnie thought to herself after hearing the devastating news.
Fortunately, because Burnie had the mole looked at early on, doctors were able to remove it before the deadly cancer had a chance to spread.
“The doctor told me last week that had it been another six months, the outcome would have been totally different for me,” Burnie said.
Although she never had a chance to properly thank him in person, Burnie hopes the stranger from the store knows how much she appreciates his advice.
“Whoever you are that approached me — I am a mum with a young teenage boy. THANK YOU for saving my life. I am truly appreciative of your advice. THANK YOU THANK YOU SIR whoever you are,” she said.
