BURNT and damaged flesh is the usual reward for sun seekers who attempt to achieve a golden tan on a short beach holiday.

Thousands of people from East Lancashire plan to jet off to foreign climes this year for their annual fry-up, forgetting that the results could be far more serious than a hot set of limbs for a fortnight.

The Health Education Authority is launching a Sun Know-how Campaign next month to warn people that the effects of sunburn could spell disaster when the holiday is just a distant set of snaps in a photo album. The results could be fatal.

For years, health specialists have had overwhelming evidence that skin cancer is linked to sun exposure and have issued warnings to the public to cover up, not burn up.

The public have responded with a cavalier "it will never happen to me" attitude.

But, tragically, for thousands their fun in the sun has cost more than a two-week wage packet. It has cost them their lives.

It's no longer just the Australians who have a skin cancer problem. In the UK it is the second most common form of cancer, killing 1,500 every year.

Grandmother Brenda, from Nelson, regards herself as lucky. She was one of the 40,000 new cases a year in Britain who contract skin cancer.

She had the most dangerous and rare form, known as malignant melanoma, which can spread to other organs. But it was treated successfully in the early stages and has been followed by check-ups which will span seven years before the all-clear is given.

Brenda reflected on the fact that she could have been just another number on the cancer mortality chart and said: "I know white legs don't look very entrancing in sandals but it's just not worth the risk for a tan.

"People ignoring the risks think it will never happen to them. I thought like that and look what happened."

One fact about 62-year-old Brenda which really brings home the danger of sunbathing is that she has only been sunburnt twice in her life - on holiday in Devon.

Both were by accident after she fell asleep, yet she contracted one of the rarest forms of skin cancer.

"That's all it takes," she said. "It was the fierce burn that triggered off the skin cancer.

"I liked sunbathing but I wasn't one to go abroad, slap myself on a beach and ask to be burnt.

"I always put sun cream on, although I never paid much attention to the factor.

"I remember waking up burnt and sore but soon forgot about it."

But her life was turned upside down when she was admitted to hospital after a mole on her shoulder changed in colour and shape.

"I thought it would just be a check up but I was rushed into surgery to remove the mole and was left with 17 stitches."

Brenda endured an agonising seven-day wait before learning that she had skin cancer.

"I couldn't believe it and wept for a couple of days," she said.

"But then I thought 'There are people like me all over the world' and got on with my life."

Today, the only tan Brenda gets is one out of a bottle.

A keen tennis player, she smothers herself in factor 20-plus sun cream and always covers her shoulders, and often her legs, during the summer.

She only ventures abroad during winter when the temperatures are low and even sits under an umbrella in the garden.

She said: "It hasn't ruined my life. It has just changed it."

Brenda, who has two married sons and three grandchildren, said: "It breaks my heart when I see children playing on the beach with no sun protection. Every time my family go on holiday I always nag them to take all their sun protection creams."

And she warned: "People must act immediately if they notice any warning sign son their body.

"It could be the difference between life and death. But the best deterrent is not to take the risk in the first place."

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