A WOMAN who won an £80,000 payout after claiming her doctor failed to diagnose skin cancer today spoke of her ordeal.

Frances Schofield, 63, said she repeatedly asked her doctor to remove a mole from one of her toes four years ago, but claimed nothing was done until it was too late.

The widow, who has raised £100,000 for the Christie Hospital, Manchester, after a friend died from cancer 15 years ago, was given two years to live in January.

Doctors at Christie's are now hoping to try a new six-hour chemotherapy treatment, but it may confine her to a wheelchair and lead to the loss of her leg.

Medical experts said that if the mole had been removed when Mrs Schofield noticed it in May 1999 it is likely that she could have been cured.

The GP, Dr Chaudry Hyder, of Ightenhill Medical Centre, Burnley, has not admitted liability, but his solicitors made the payout after Mrs Schofield launched legal action.

Mrs Schofield, of Padiham Road, Burnley, said: "The money doesn't mean anything because this has effectively taken my life away. If I'd been referred when I first went to see him it's more than likely everything would have turned out OK. As it is I've gone through a huge amount of pain and trouble.

"I used to have a part time job, but I had to give that up and now I may end up in a wheelchair and having to use stairlifts. I may even lose my leg. The whole thing's been a nightmare.

"I'll use the money to pay for my care after the operation, but it can't make up for what has happened to me."

Mrs Schofield, who has three children, Damian, 37, Jane, 36 and Lucy, 35, became worried when a small mole on her toe began to turn black and began to bleed. She contacted her GP because of a history of skin cancer in her family, but said her doctor prescribed her steroid ointment, which did not work.

She said she was eventually referred to a surgeon on a non-urgent basis, so she decided to pay for a private consultation.

Mrs Schofield was diagnosed with terminal malignant melanoma and referred to Christie Hospital for treatment in December 1999, seven months after the mole appeared.

Her toe was removed, but she has developed more melanomas and a growth has developed on her leg.

Dr Hyder, who has a practice at Ightenhill Medical Centre in Burnley, declined to comment because of patient confidentiality.

The payment was an out-of-court settlement made by the Medical Defence Union, which represented Dr Hyder. Mrs Schofield's lawyer, Janet Johnson, of Manchester firm Jack Thornley and Partners, said: "I'm afraid we had to organise the payout on the basis Mrs Schofield's prognosis is now extremely poor and she knows she probably won't live to a normal life expectancy.

"Our medical experts said that up to 20 weeks after Mrs Schofield first asked her doctor to refer her, she would have virtually been guaranteed a complete cure. Even three months later, she would have had a 50/50 chance of a complete cure."

Mrs Schofield will have the operation at Christie's Hospital in Manchester next month.