Viewer’s email alerted Mark Lawrenson to cancerous blemish on his face

Mark Lawrenson wants to personally thank the viewer who spotted a worrying blemish on the pundit's skin earlier this year.

An email was sent to the BBC which advised Lawrenson to get to a doctor as soon as possible. The former Liverpool defender knew about the mark on his face but had been delaying his visit to his doctor until the message arrived from the eagle-eyed fan. The mark turned out to be cancerous but, thankfully, it was removed immediately and Lawrenson has encouraged anyone with the slightest doubt about a growth or blemish to get it checked out as a matter of urgency.

"Towards the end of last season, the editor of Football Focus received an email from a viewer saying they had seen me on TV and noticed I had a bit of dark skin on the left side of my face," he wrote.

https://twitter.com/MTLawrenson/status/1037766835486244864 "Their message was I needed to get rid of it, or at least get it checked out urgently. I was already aware of the blemish and was planning to get an appointment about it but, like a typical 60-year-old bloke, I had been putting it off rather than sorting it out. "That email was the kick up the backside I needed. I went to get it looked at immediately, and it was cancerous so I had it whipped out straight away. I would urge anyone with any similar doubts about a mark on their skin not to wait, and to do the same. "People can be very stubborn and ignorant, thinking 'well it is not going to happen to me', but of course it does. I never found out who the viewer was who contacted the show, but we are trying to track them down now. "I would love to be able to get in touch to thank them, and hopefully this article will help that to happen."