Newlywed tragically dies after mistaking skin cancer to be muscle pain

29-year-old Clare Daly, mistook the pain she was feeling in her shoulder for a muscle injury. Sadly, after being diagnosed she discovered it was an aggressive form of malignant melanoma and passed away three months later.  

Daly's husband Paul had held her funeral in the same church they got married in a year and half ago, according to TODAY. Her family wanted to share her tragic story to raise awareness about the skin cancer disease.

"I think she would be proud of what we are doing," Michael McNally, Daly's eldest brother, told TODAY. "If we can save one life it will be a worthwhile cause."

If love could have saved you @ClarreyX , you would have lived forever pic.twitter.com/HQcNiZNs83

— ClareDalyFoundation (@CDFCharity) February 13, 2016

McNally revealed about three years ago, his sister had a suspicious mole removed from her left shoulder. While tests showed it was malignant melanoma, it was caught early and successfully treated.

However, in May 2015, Clare began "complaining about an achy left shoulder", where the mole had been removed and noticed a small lump. Later in September, she was again  diagnosed with malignant melanoma, which had spread to her lymph nodes and lung. McNally said this time, there was no visible marking on the skin.

While part of the mole was removed, the rest of it was aggressive and Daly passed away on December 7, 2015.

On the Clare Daly Foundation website, her friends and family write, "She was, is, genuinely adored by everyone that knew her,"  and warn, "melanoma is a horrible and vicious disease if it spreads".

Dr Julie Karen, a board certified dermatologist in New York told TODAY, while Daly's story is frightening, "having melanoma show up as muscle pain is extremely rare since the vast majority of cases appear as visible lesions on the skin".

Karen said, "When these lesions are caught early, melanoma is entirely curable. But when ignored, they can be deadly and devastating."