KATHRYN

In 2020, I was performing a self-exam when I noticed a very small pea sized lump in my right breast and a small lump the size of a grain of rice behind my nipple. I went to the doctors who and sent me for a referral to a one stop breast clinic. I was checked over and although the consultant couldn’t feel the lump behind my nipple themselves, they informed me that the other lump was most likely benign as I was too young for it to be cancerous (I was 31 at the time) An ultrasound was performed and they told me it showed a lump that was glandular in appearance and most likely benign.
With my mind put at ease, I continued on with my life.

That was until I was lay on my bed in October 2023 and it felt like the lump had gotten bigger. I thought this may be due to hormones, so I decided to leave it another month and check at a different time in my cycle. I’d also searched online and convinced myself this lump couldn’t possibly be cancer, due to my age, and was simply a fibroadenoma.
By the beginning of January the lump was roughly the size of an egg and very noticeable, I could literally see it protruding from my breast. I booked an appointment and had an examination followed by a mammogram, ultrasound then several biopsies and some marker clips were put in.

On the 17th of January 2024, at only 35 years old, I was given the devastating news that I had breast cancer.
I had to have further biopsies taken on another 2 lumps(one was behind my nipple) which also turned out to be cancerous. Thankfully there was no sign of spread to my lymph nodes. I was told my cancer was Grade 2, Stage 2, multi-focal Invasive Ductal Breast Cancer.
I asked my consultant, as the lumps were the same ones I found in 2020, if this meant I had been walking around with cancer in my body for all that time but she informed me it can take over 18months+ for a lump to turn cancerous.
I’d watched my grandma go through a double mastectomy and chemotherapy when I was 12 and I was told about the importance of getting to know my breasts and I started to do monthly self-checks from then on. After originally being in remission, my grandma was then diagnosed with secondary breast cancer and sadly passed away in 2013. Her cancer was fed by oestrogen, and I thought this was the same for everyone, so I was very confused when I was told my cancer was triple negative. Later that night I searched google and found out there were many different types of breast cancer, and I also read that only 10-15% of breast cancers are triple negative.

For me, one of the hardest parts of being diagnosed was figuring out how I was going to explain my diagnosis to my 5year old daughter. My husband and I had decided that honesty was the best policy, and we explained, in an age-appropriate way, that mummy had a poorly booby and needed to have a special medicine to make it better but that my hair would fall out. On the 29th January I braved the shave and donated my beautiful, long, blonde hair to the little princess trust.
I bought some gems and eyelash glue and once I was completely bald, I let my daughter loose and she had so much fun decorating my head.

I have now completed 12 weekly rounds of carboplatin and Taxol followed by 4, 3weekly rounds of EC. I have also had 3weekly treatments of immunotherapy which I will continue to have until around April 2025.
Although there is an extensive history of breast cancer on my maternal side, I have been genetically tested and do not carry any of the known faulty/BRACA genes.
As I have 3 separate tumours I was advised I would need to have a single mastectomy, however, as there are no preventative tablets that can be taken after treatment for triple negative breast cancer, I requested to have a double mastectomy which was approved and I had my operation at the end of July. As I had no sign of cancer in my lymph nodes, radiotherapy wasn’t something that would be required so I opted for implant reconstruction.
After a long 3week wait my pathology results came back. Unfortunately, the chemotherapy hadn’t worked as well as expected and live cancer cells were found in my tumours. This meant I had to undergo 15rounds of radiotherapy and will also take a tablet form of chemotherapy for 6months.

I have tried to keep positive throughout my treatment, but some days can be very tough. Being part of the Boobee campaign has been invaluable and I have met some incredible ladies who I now consider to be lifelong friends as well as being able to help raise funds and awareness of this horrible disease.
I can’t help but think if I had requested for the lumps to be removed in 2020, as a preventative measure, then I may not be sat here now sharing my cancer story. Furthermore, had I not been told the first time that I was ‘too young to get cancer’ I would have gotten checked out as soon as I felt that the lump had grown.

The sad reality is that nobody is too young to get breast cancer and It’s so important to perform monthly checks and get to know your breasts. If you feel something is out of the ordinary you must get checked out straight away.
Had I left it any longer and not got checked out when I did, I believe my story would have had a very different ending.