The Real Housewives of Cheshire star Rachel Lugo and her twin sister Katie Kane have been praised for raising awareness of skin cancer on Loose Women .

The sisters appeared on the ITV1 panel show together to open up about Katie’s health battles and mother of two Katie was visibly moved as they were shown a clip from the new series of Real Housewives , when she revealed that her cancer had returned.

The skin cancer awareness campaigner told panelists Coleen Nolan, Janet Street-Porter, Linda Robson and Stacey Solomon that she had basal-cell carcinoma, the most common type of skin cancer, on her chest 11 years ago and it has returned on her face as a small red mark that wouldn’t heal.

Katie was visibly moved by a clip from the Real Housewives

She said: “I had it on my chest 11 years ago.

“I had a sore on my chest that wouldn’t heal and it looked like eczema.”

Katie, a guest star on the ITVBe reality show who lives in Gibraltar, is now urging others to stay safe in the sun and to get any suspicious skin marks and moles checked.

Loose Women showed a picture from the last time she had treatment for skin cancer two years ago.

Katie during her treatment for skin cancer two years ago

One viewer praised on Twitter: “It’s not easy to talk about cancer, well done to Katie and Rachel for speaking out and raising awareness. #RHOC #LooseWomen Hugs to you both.”

Zoe Anne Whittingham tweeted: “Well done ladies great interview and making people aware of skin cancer. Your both beautiful xx”

And Sean McEvoy wrote: “Loved watching you both on @loosewomen this morning.. Your story hopefully helps raise awareness about skin cancer. Hope you’re doing much better now x”

Other viewers took to social media to share their own stories.

One said: “My dad had melanoma skin cancer. He then had another cancer aswell, it had worked it’s way up to his brain. There needs to be more education around melanoma skin cancer and just skin cancer in general. My dad sadly passed at the age of 64 last February.”

Another tweeted: “I was diagnosed with skin cancer 2 years ago on my nose at age 23 and my friend also on her face at 24. It’s crazy!! So scary.”