I Thought My Leg Was Just Itchy, Then My Worst Nightmare Came True

A young woman who underwent surgery for skin cancer has shared her story to warn others, in particular one unusual symptom she had.

Chloë Bourgoin, 26 and from Connecticut, told Newsweek she has multiple moles on her body but “wasn’t aware of how important routine skin checks were,” and last went for one in 2018.

She also did not know that itching can be a sign of skin cancer.

“The mole was new, we think it appeared about three years ago based on photos, and it was completely normal until I started to experience itching in my lower leg around the end of 2025,” she recalled to Newsweek.

It was only from Googling the strange itch that Bourgoin learned it could be a sign of something dangerous—and an appointment with her dermatologist confirmed her worst fear.

The small mole just above her ankle was malignant melanoma, a type of skin cancer that starts in the pigment that gives skin its color, and which most often develops in areas that have had exposure to the sun, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States, and diagnoses have been rising rapidly over the past 30 years, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association.

Excess exposure to UV radiation from sunlight or the use of indoor tanning increases the risk of skin cancer, as does a personal history of the disease.

The majority of melanoma cases are attributable to UV exposure, and sunburns during childhood or adolescence can increase the odds of developing the disease.

The most common signs of melanoma are a mole with an unusual shape, a change in color or size, an unusual border, or itchiness or bleeding.

Bourgoin told Newsweek that it was only later that she learned that her family has a history of melanoma on her maternal side, which can heighten a person’s risk of cancer.

She underwent a biopsy followed by an excision surgery, which cuts out the melanoma as well as a border of normal, healthy-looking skin which ensures no cancer cells are left behind and which greatly lowers the chance of the cancer coming back.

Because of the excision, Bourgoin showcased in a video that she is now “missing a chunk of my leg,” with extra skin taken from around the area where the mole had been.

But, she revealed to Newsweek, it worked.

As she put it: ” My recovery has been going well, and I am now cancer-free!”

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Rebecca Flood and Gray R. Thomas