Chris Capstick, 41, from Bromborough, Merseyside, has been told he has just months to live after what he thought was an insect bite on his back turned out to be skin cancer. He noticed the mark during a 2022 holiday to Greece, where he married his wife Lauren, 30.
Misdiagnosed as a cyst
Over the next six months, Chris went back and forth to his GP practice as the mark changed colour. He claims doctors told him it was a cyst—a harmless lump filled with fluid or pus—but it was actually skin cancer.
“I got married in Greece and that’s when we noticed the 'insect bite'. Doctors told me it was a cyst. I went back several times as it changed colour and started to grow, and they kept saying it was a cyst,” he told the Liverpool Echo.
He eventually asked for it to be removed in February 2023 after a colleague suggested it could be done at the GP surgery. “As soon as they removed it, I think they noticed it wasn't a cyst and sent it off for testing.”
Stage four melanoma diagnosis
Chris was diagnosed with stage four melanoma, meaning the cancer had spread beyond nearby lymph nodes. He was sitting with Lauren, who was pregnant at the time, when he learned his chances of survival were just 15%.
He had his lymph nodes removed and spent 13 months on immunotherapy. He was briefly cancer-free at the start of 2025, but six months later, six tumours were found on his brain and six elsewhere, making his cancer terminal.
Family and treatment
Chris, who has three children—Isabella, six, Mila, 10, and Nylah, two—with Lauren, said: “I was given 10 to 12 months to live. It was a massive shock for me and the family. We try to stay positive. I'm trying everything. I'm trying red light therapy, oxygen therapy.”
Side effects have paused his treatment for two months. “My liver enzymes are quite high at the moment, so I've not had treatment for two months. We're trying to get them down via steroids. I’m trying to stay positive which is not always easy.”
Just over a year on from that prognosis, Chris now doesn’t know how long he has left. “I had six tumours on my brain. Five of the tumours have disappeared, there's just one left on my brain now, so something's working, hopefully. At the moment I haven't got a prognosis of how long I can live.”
Daughter's book and legacy
His daughter Isabella has written a children's book, Daddy's Little Monsters, to help other children understand a parent's serious illness. Over £630 has been raised to print and distribute the book to cancer centres, hospices, and Maggie's Centres across the UK.
Chris said: “We really struggled to explain it to all our children. My wife spent some time with Isabella, and she explained that daddy's got monsters in his stomach and planned to use medicine to kill them. Then she did some sort of art therapy and created the book over six months and published it via Amazon. To date, we've sold just shy of 300 copies.
“We've dropped copies in Arrowe Park, Clatterbridge, Maggie's Cancer Centre in Wirral and Lancaster Oncology. It would mean everything (to have the book across the UK). It’s my legacy in a way.”
