Katherine Ryan led the comedians at the Teenage Cancer Trust Night of Comedy on Tuesday, just days after revealing she has been diagnosed with skin cancer.
The comedian, 41, shared on Friday that she's battling melanoma for the second time after having a mole on her arm removed.
But Katherine isn't letting her health woes hold her back as she arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in London to deliver a fantastic show alongside A-list comedians includingScott Bennett, Finlay Christie, Romesh Ranganathan, Micky Flanagan and Jack Skipper.
She dressed casually for the occasion, sporting a chic baby pink sweatshirt with croissant embroidery and light blue denim jeans.
Katherine completed her look with beige trainers and appeared in high spirits as she posed for several photos before the show.
Meanwhile, Micky, 62, who hosted the show, sported a blue T-shirt and dark blue denim jeans as he larked around for the camera.
Katherine Ryan led the comedians at the Teenage Cancer Trust Night of Comedy on Tuesday, just days after revealing she has been diagnosed with skin cancer
The comedian, 41, shared on Friday that she's battling melanoma for the second time after having a mole on her arm removed
Romesh, 46, looked upbeat, smiling broadly for the cameras in a pale blue button-up shirt and black baggy trousers.
YouTuber Finlay wore a baggy black sweatshirt and dark blue denim jeans with exposed stitch detailing.
Scott Bennett also appeared in good spirits, wearing a smart black zip-up jacket and beige trousers, beaming for the camera.
Josh Widdicombe, 41, looked equally cheerful, posing in an orange striped T-shirt and a dark green overshirt.
Katherine's appearance at the event came just after she updated fans on her health following surgery for the second time in a week.
The comedian announced that she had been diagnosed with a cancerous mole on her arm last week and took to her Instagram Story to share an update, uploading a photo of her arm covered in a plaster.
Katherine captioned the update: 'Done,' with a tick and a red heart emoji.
The TV personality paid to have the mole removed privately last week, but after doctors discovered it was cancerous she had to undergo another procedure.
But Katherine isn't letting her health woes hold her back as she arrived at the Royal Albert Hall in London to deliver a fantastic show alongside several A-list comedians
She dressed casually for the occasion, sporting a chic baby pink sweatshirt with croissant embroidery and light blue denim jeans
Katherine appeared in high spirits as she posed for several photos before the show
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004.
Speaking on her podcast, Telling Everybody Everythinglast week, she explained:'The only reason that they agreed to remove it was because I went to a fancy private place in South Kensington and I paid them a grand.
'I don't know if on theNHSthey ever would have removed this mole.'
While the Canadian comic did not trust the NHS would have removed the mole, she revealed she faced different problems while seeing private doctors.
She explained that she had paid £300 for a seven-minute consultation with a doctor, who wrongly informed her the mole wasn't cancerous.
Yet she was inspired to keep pushing with her concerns after following Teddi Mellencamp's journey.
TheReal Housewives star, 43, has been battling skin cancer since 2022 and this year revealed doctors hadfound three tumours in her brain.
Katherine recalled: 'He gave me the news that I wanted! I think it's really easy to take a diagnosis of you're healthy and walk away, you go ''great I'm healthy'' and you don't think about it again because that is the easiest news.
Meanwhile, Micky, 62, who hosted the show, sported a blue T-shirt and dark blue denim jeans as he larked around for the camera
Romesh, 46, looked upbeat, smiling broadly for the cameras in a pale blue button-up shirt and black baggy trousers
YouTuber Finlay wore a baggy black sweatshirt and dark blue denim jeans with exposed stitch detailing
'But the mole kept changing - I know a lot about melanoma, I had a melanoma as a very young woman, stage two on my leg - and I've spoken about that before.'
She continued: 'Even that didn't look traditionally like melanoma to me, fair enough it had some discolouration and asymmetry and a bit of black and red. It was a flat mole, not that bad and not that big, but it was stage two melanoma so that was bad.
'I had to have full general anesthetic and surgery to have a golf-ball size of my leg because - if you know about melanoma, you know it's a deadly form of skin cancer and it spreads quickly.'
Discussing her current cancer battle, she went on:'I just felt like this mole wasn't right. It's on my arm, I showed pictures of it on social media, this is like the hole from having it removed.
'I went in and I wanted the doctor to remove a bigger piece of it and stitch it up in a straight line.
'But even when he looked at it, he was like "not melanoma, totally fine, I will do the shave and send it away for histology and if there's any borders that we missed, then we will do the deeper cut".'
Yet the test confirmed that she needed the deeper cut, and she continued: 'It just feels crazy to me, like what could have happened if I hadn't been my own advocate - and I will continue to be my own advocate.
'If I hadn't pushed, if I had taken that good answer the first time and walked away. Then I would have had melanoma just growing and spreading in my arm and I would say "oh no the doctor says it's fine, it's fine" and god knows how far that would have gone.'
Katherine shared her shock at the diagnosis, revealing how she has been careful to protect her skin.
Explaining how she broke the news to husbandBobby Kootstra, she shared:'I was upset when I called [Bobby] because I feel very lucky but I also feel like what the f**k?
Scott Bennett also appeared in good spirits, wearing a smart black zip-up jacket and beige trousers, beaming for the camera
Josh Widdicombe, 41, looked equally cheerful, posing in an orange striped T-shirt and a dark green overshirt
Katherine pictured with Zoe Lyons, Romesh, Josh, Jack Skipper, Micky, Finlay, and Scott ahead of the show
Later in the evening, the comedian graced the stage in a stylish purple dress, embellished with intricate details that hugged her slender figure
She added inches to her frame with a pair of purple open-toe heels and styled her short blonde locks into a sleek ponytail as she delivered her best jokes on stage
'It's not ideal to have melanoma twice in your life and I obviously have a genetic predisposition, I am someone with type one, Celtic skin, I have over 100 moles.
'I don't go in the sun, I wear SPF all the time, I cover my body, I cover my arms, I cover my face, but here's my second go with melanoma that I know of! I'm thinking f**k what other moles do I need to get checked?'
She added in a TikTok video: 'This time luckily I caught it early, I don't think it has spread.'
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004.
She said previously: 'The cancer wasn’t that serious. It wasn’t into my lymph nodes, I didn’t have to have chemotherapy.
'It did recur, but it was easily dealt with. I feel like I was really lucky just to get that lesson, that little smack on the a**e of "Hey, wait a minute. Listen to your body, here."’
She previously joked that moving to the UK had been the 'best thing' for her because of the lack of warm weather, she told The Guardian: 'I just joked that it was free lipo. If you’re prone to skin cancer, then living in the UK is the best thing you can do.'
Katherine was born and raised in Canada but moved to London in her early twenties to pursue her comedy career.
The comedian announced that she had been diagnosed with a cancerous mole on her arm last week, after having another melanoma when she was younger (pictured this week)
Katherine paid to have the mole removed privately last week, but after doctors discovered it was cancerous, she had to undergo another procedure
It's the second time Katherine has been diagnosed with the disease, having been diagnosed with Stage 2 cancer in 2004 (pictured onThe Great Celebrity Bake Off for Stand Up To Cancer in 2021)
The comedian and her childhood sweetheart Bobby have two children together Fenna, two, and Fred, three.
She also has a 15-year-old daughter Violet from her previous relationship with boyfriend Alex Edelman.
Katherine has also been battling Lupus and previously discussed her struggle with the disease - having firstexperienced symptoms back in 2007.
She had just moved to Londonwhen she first began to suffer with sore joints, fatigue and rashes.
In an interview with The Mirror she explained:'I had really low white blood cells, but no one seemed particularly alarmed about that. There was a lot of frustration with doctors who didn’t know what was wrong and didn’t investigate. I felt quite fobbed off.'
Following various appointments with an array of specialists, she added that she was told she could have'ringworm' whilst another took a guess with 'leprosy.'
Desperately Katherine visited A&E, where a nurse there first suggested that she might have Lupus.
After almost a year of trying to get a professional diagnosis she was finally told by a dermatologist that she hadsystemic lupus erythematous.
Whilst there is no cure for the long-term condition, it can be treated and controlled with medication to prevent it from getting worse and lessen flare-ups.
As well as being a stand-up comedian appearing on shows such as QI and Have I Got News For You, Katherine is also well-known for television programmes such as Duchess and Meet the Richardsons.
Fans know her as much for her glamorous looks and outfits as they do for her outspoken nature on everything British.
What is malignant melanoma?
Malignant melanoma is a serious form of skin cancer that begins in melanocytes, cells found in the upper layer of skin that produce melanin, which gives skin its colour.
While less common that other types of skin cancer, it is more dangerous because of its ability to spread to other organs more rapidly if it is not treated at an early stage.
Symptoms
A new mole or a change in an existing mole may be signs of melanoma.
Melanomas can appear anywhere on your body, but they're more common in areas that are often exposed to the sun.
Some rarer types can affect the eyes, soles of the feet, palms of the hands or genitals.
Check your skin for any unusual changes. Use a mirror or ask a partner or friend to check any areas you cannot see.
In particular, look for:
- Moles with an uneven shape or edges
- Moles with a mix of colours
- Large moles - melanomas often tend to be more than 6mm wide
- Moles that change size, shape or colour over time
Causes
Ultraviolet (UV) light is the most common cause of melanoma. It comes from the sun and is used in sunbeds.
Melanoma is more common in older people, but younger people can also get it.
You're also more likely to get melanoma if you have:
- Pale skin that burns easily in the sun
- Red or blonde hair
- Blue or green eyes
- Alarge number of freckles or moles
- Had a lot of sun exposure and you've had sunburn a lot in the past
- Used sunbeds a lot
- Ahistory of skin cancer in your family or you've had skin cancer before
If you have black or brown skin, you have a lower chance of getting melanoma, but you can still get it.
Prevention
Staying safe in the sun is the best way to lower your chance of getting skin cancer (both melanoma and non-melanoma).
Do the following:
- Stay out of the sun during the hottest part of the day (11am to 3pm in the UK)
- Keep your arms and legs covered and wear a wide-brimmed hat and sunglasses that provide protection against ultraviolet (UV) rays
- Use sunscreen with a sun protection factor (SPF) of at least 30 and at least 4-star UVA protection – make sure you reapply it regularly
- Make sure babies and children are protected from the sun – their skin is much more sensitive than adult skin
Treatment
Melanoma skin cancer can often be treated. The treatment you have will depend on where it is, if it has spread and your general health.
Surgery is the main treatment for melanoma. Radiotherapy, medicines and chemotherapy are also sometimes used.
Surgery could involve removing the melanoma and an area of healthy skin around it, swollen lymph nodes if the cancer has spread to them and other parts of the body if it has spread to them.
If a large part of skin has to be removed, a skin graft might be needed which could see kin taken from another part of the body to cover the area where the melanoma was.
Radiotherpay is sometimes used to reduce the size of large melanomas and help control and relieve symptoms.
Targeted medicines and immotherapy are used to treat melanomas that can't be dealt with by surgery, or have spread to lymph glands or other parts of the body.
Chemotherapy, which kills cancer cells, is sometimes used to treat advanced melanoma when it has spread to another part of the body. It does not work as well as other treatments, but can be used if you are unable to have them.
How dangerous is it?
Generally for people with melanoma in England:
- almost all people (almost 100%) will survive their melanoma for 1 year or more after they are diagnosed
- around 90 out of every 100 people (around 90%) will survive their melanoma for 5 years or more after diagnosis
- more than 85 out of every 100 people (more than 85%) will survive their melanoma for 10 years or more after they are diagnosed
Sources: NHS, the Skin Cancer Foundation and Cancer Research UK
