"The Doctor Said It Was a Bug Bite, the Biopsy Revealed Cancer"

Who hasn't experienced this? You go to the doctor with a troubling symptom and receive reassurance: 'Everything is fine, no need for tests.' However, sometimes the troubling symptom persists. In such cases, it turns out, it's worth being assertive. Just ask Ilan Berliner, who posted his story on Facebook for the new year about a strange pimple that appeared on his shoulder.

"It all started last summer. A small and annoying pimple appeared on my shoulder. The kind that looks like a zit," he writes. After two months where the pimple refused to disappear, he went to a dermatologist, who ordered a biopsy. Eventually, however, she decided it was nothing and no biopsy was needed.

Two more months passed and the "nothing" refused to go away and even grew a bit, so I went to another dermatologist.

"An insect left a stinger under your skin and the body built this growth around it. It's nothing," he was told.

But I wanted this "nothing" gone, and after I insisted, I was referred for a minor surgery to remove the growth.

"If there's something, they'll call you within two weeks. If they don't call and you want to know what it is, call in about a month," the surgeon concluded.

Two weeks passed

Three

Four

Five weeks

One evening. Nine thirty at night.

"Ilan, hello," the surgeon said "the biopsy results have arrived. I'm sending them to you by email. I suggest you see an oncologist as soon as possible."

Berliner, as it turned out, had cutaneous lymphoma, a type of cancer.

Like anyone hit with such a diagnosis, Berliner describes how he entered a whirlwind of tests and sleepless nights. Fortunately, there were no metastases and his treatment was completed in three weeks of radiation.

Why did Berliner feel the need to share his story? To possibly save others. That's what happened with a friend. "About three months ago, I told a friend, and he showed me a growth that appeared on him and said he had been to a dermatologist, but the doctor told him it was nothing and the scar would be uglier than what it is now, and that it's not worth touching. I asked him to go back to the doctor and demand an examination."
A week ago, the phone call came
"Ilan, I want to say thank you. Not just a thank you like you'd say to someone for doing you a favor, but a thank you like you'd say to someone who saved your life."

His friend, as it turned out, had sarcoma: a not easy type of cancer which, by sheer luck, and thanks to Berliner, was discovered before it metastasized, but still requires prolonged treatment.

"I'm a person who values my privacy very much and usually doesn't post things on social media," Berliner concludes. "But if this post succeeds in saving even one more person, it's worth the cost of my privacy."