Hero hairdresser saves customer’s life after spotting lump on his head which turned out to be cancer

A hero hairdresser saved a customer’s life after spotting a lump on his head which turned out to be cancer.

Driving instructor Adam Shatford, 54, popped in for a quick trim when one of his students failed to turn up for a lesson.

Hairdresser Erinna Lindfield, 42, was brushing his hair when she noticed a hard mole-sized lump under the sideburns by his left ear.

She mentioned it to Adam and suggested he get it checked out which he did two hours later on October 3 last year.

Days later he was diagnosed with stage three melanoma and doctors discovered more cancerous lumps on his forehead.

He went under the knife on October 23 to remove the cancer and had further surgery last month to remove lymph nodes.

Last week he was given the all clear and has returned to the hairdressers to thank Erinna for saving his life.

The dad-of-three, of Northampton, said: “Erinna had never cut my hair before, another stylist did it.

“While she was brushing my hair, she said, ‘Has anyone ever checked that mole out? It costs nothing.’

“I left here and I phoned the doctor and within two hours a doctor had asked me to come in.

“If Erinna had never said ‘you need to get it checked’, I would never had phoned.

“It was definitely from the sun – it affects people’s pigments differently.

“I have been told the reason it’s so dangerous is because you are not ill until it’s progressed.

“I’m very lucky. I could have easily nodded my head at Erinna but I thought I will phone and both surgeons and doctors paid tribute to Erinna.

“I felt 100 per cent fine until they operated. I usually ran four to five miles a day.

“I’m very grateful to her, and the NHS.

“If she had not said that, I would have got worse until I was very bad.”

Erinna, who works at Jazz Hairdressing, in Northampton, said: “I hadn’t done Adam’s hair before, but I started cutting his hair.

“I saw the mole and felt like I had to saw something.

“I knew that it wasn’t right.

“It was very misshapen, dark and bumpy. It was about the size of a 5p, right in the side burn.

“He said to me ‘do you think I should get it checked?’

“I said ‘I really do’.

“I’m not a doctor, I just wanted him to get professional advice.

“He called the doctor straight away.

“When he came back to the hairdressers, he was very grateful.

“He bought me a bottle of Prosecco.

“He said it was one of the best hair cuts he had ever had. I’m just glad he came in on that day and he got it checked out.”