My story started at an Alton Towers takeover day with my employer. My fiancé, two close colleagues, and I went on a ride called Galactica, which required us to be in a lying position. The pressure from the overhead restraints meant the next day I could feel I had some tenderness in my right breast. This is what led me to check my chest in the shower, I found the lump on my right breast, 6 o’clock to my nipple, slightly underneath closer to the chest wall. The usual steps followed and I booked myself a doctor’s appointment after getting some reassurance from my Fiance and Mum that there was definitely a lump.
I remember being so nervous that I was wasting people’s time and thinking surely it wasn’t anything.
Luckily the Doctor I saw felt the lump immediately and he reassured me that I was young and that it was more than likely to be a fibroadenoma or even a cyst but still wanted to refer me to my local breast clinic which was a 2 week wait.
The wait was the hardest part as I went back and forth in my mind. Is it breast cancer? What if it’s cancer? It couldn’t be cancer! Not me! However, the appointment rolled around and I attended with my Mum, coincidentally the doctor who examined me was the same doctor that treated my grandmother many years before. He sent me for an immediate ultrasound and had a biopsy taken. I know now looking back my gut instinct was right and I did have breast cancer – on April 20th 2022, I was diagnosed at the age of 24, with right-sided breast cancer, stage 2, ER+ HER-.
I was lucky I had my amazing Fiance of 4 years to support me as well as my parents and brother as the months that followed were not going to be easy. First came the options of surgical treatment, my consultant spoke about a lumpectomy but I think I was pretty set in my mind, I wanted a mastectomy. Unfortunately, the healing process was not kind to me and I developed a seroma at the surgical site meaning I had countless trips to my wonderful breast nurses to aid the healing.
During this time I also had to discuss fertility preservation options with my fiance and the breast nurses; however, due to the results of my surgery, I had to make the tough decision not to go ahead with it and to start chemotherapy straight away. I started on monthly injections of Zoladex which put me into a medically induced menopause as well as being put onto a tablet called Tamoxifen.
Once chemo finished I was scheduled for a preventive left mastectomy and right-sided axillary lymph node removal. Again this came with healing complications, I developed seromas again, where they would swell to the size of a tennis ball, meaning many trips back and forth to the breast nurses. My Fiance also became my personal dressings nurse, helping me to pack the wound, as it reopened on New Year’s Eve.
In January 2023, I went back to work on a phased return whilst I waited to get the all-clear from the breast nurses. During this time, I was able to get a planning scan done for radiotherapy and get the tattoos needed for the 5 sessions of radiotherapy I was to have at Addenbrookes Hospital. Big shout out to the primrose drivers who volunteer to take cancer patients to and from this hospital.
Once the active treatment was over it was all about healing further physically but starting to deal with everything mentally which with the help of breast cancer now, yourselves (coppafeel!) Macmillian and my local cancer charity I had many sessions of counselling and joined various online groups and forums to help cope with life after cancer.
This part of my life has impacted me greatly, as a now 27-year-old who has decided to live flat for my own peace of mind I have everyday struggles learning to accept my body yet also be thankful for how it carried me through such a tough time in my life.
My body is not what it was prior to cancer treatment, I’m still on 8 years’ worth of hormone therapy and only just finished my Zodalex treatment.
Some days I still think how did I get through this? The worry of recurrence riddles me often and my mind often goes on tangents of symptom checking not just for myself but my close family members.
Some advice I’d give to others is to reach out, its something I didn’t do during treatment and I think that affected me a lot, although I follow lots of women who have also been affected by breast cancer on social media I think having someone to relate to in person is so beneficial which is something I didn’t do until after my treatment ended but also it’s so important to remember that it’s your journey and you need to do what’s right for you when it’s right for you.
And that advice I would also say relates to treatment options, just remember it’s YOUR body and it’s YOUR treatment plan – no one else’s. Research as much as you feel comfortable and always do what’s best for you.
