Mum who had 'love affair with sunbeds' loses cancer fight

A MOTHER of three who started using sunbeds at the age of 16 has died from skin cancer.

Donna Ballantyne, 39, subjected herself to UV rays twice a week in unmanned, coin- operated tanning booths until she was 22.

Nine years ago she was diagnosed with melanoma and blamed her excess sunbathing for the disease.

Ms Ballantyne raised more than 1 million for cancer charities during her struggle, defying doctors who said in 2007 she had seen her last Christmas. She died on Monday.

Speaking two years before she died, she said: "If I could turn back time, I wouldn't have spent even one second of my life on a sunbed.

"I am convinced that if I had never been near a sunbed I would not have been left fighting for my life after skin cancer spread around my body.

"I am convinced the cancer is the legacy of a love affair with sunbeds that started when I first used a coin-operated sunbed, aged 16, in a salon in Glasgow city centre."

She previously said she would lie in the tanning beds for lengthy periods because they were unsupervised. She added: "I would insert my money into the machine and lie there for as long as I liked. Sunbeds were fashionable and all my friends were using them.

"I'm fair-skinned and I thought I looked better - more glamorous - with a tan."

Ms Ballantyne, who lived in Bothwell, Lanarkshire, was first diagnosed in 2002 when she had a mark removed, only for it to return in 2006. An emergency operation failed and she was told the cancer would kill her.

She underwent intensive chemotherapy to try to shrink 19 tumours that had spread to her liver, stomach, leg and neck.

Doctors told the family all treatment had failed in 2007 and Ms Ballantyne should enjoy her last Christmas with her children Dylan, 14, Sophie, 12, and Leon, seven. She later underwent treatment in the US.

Last night her father, nightclub tycoon James Mortimer, 66, said: "Donna blamed the sunbeds and so do I.

"If she was not spending time with her family, she would be working hard, advising young people to stay out of the sun and not use sunbeds.

"She was the bravest person we knew and so selfless. We are all devastated."

Her mother Rena, 66, added: "She was the most outgoing, bubbly, lovely person and never complained, despite everything she was going through."