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Newlywed passes away just months after mistaking skin cancer for a pulled muscle

Posted at 9:22 PM, Feb 28, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-28 21:22:37-05

LIVERPOOL — Newlywed Clare Daly was enjoying the first few months of marriage when she started feeling pain in her shoulder.

According to Liverpool Echo, Daly thought she had pulled a muscle — but the pain quickly became worse. Doctors discovered that she had an aggressive form of skin cancer.

The melanoma was from a mole removed several years ago, but the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lung by the time the doctors discovered it. She passed away within 3 months of her diagnosis.

“Clare wasn’t a sun-worshipper at all. She never used sunbeds, she naturally had pale porcelain skin,” said a friend. “She was always very aware of being exposed to the sun, especially after she’d had the scare, even though doctors said it would be very rare for it to come back.

“We thought dual therapy was the best chance of prolonging Clare’s life, of keeping the cancer at bay for as long as possible in the hope of them finding another new treatment,” Michael McNally, Daly’s brother, told Liverpool Echo.“It isn’t funded by the NHS (National Health Services) so we started to fundraise, but it was just too late.”

Her friends and family created the Clare Daly Foundation to honor her memory and raise awareness about melanoma.