I was diagnosed with Stage 3 Triple Negative Breast Cancer in July 2023, at the age of 36.
My diagnosis came having initially gone to the GP with a small lump that I had found in my underarm whilst on holiday. I found it quite by accident whilst putting on suncream – some days it was there, other days it wasn’t! Whilst at the breast clinic I had an ultrasound, some biopsies, and a mammogram, and as they said that they couldn’t see anything on my mammogram, I was told to go back two weeks later just for confirmation. However, when I returned, I was told I had cancer – the most aggressive type of breast cancer at that, and the hardest to treat.
Unfortunately, the lump I had found was a cancer positive lymph node, so I had to wait to see how far it had spread. After an MRI scan, they discovered a large primary tumour with smaller satellite sites and multiple lymph nodes involved.
What was also unfortunate is that the hospital I began my treatment at ignored my pre-existing health conditions and allergies. This led to a catalogue of medical negligence issues and incredibly poor treatment Their actions and lack of appropriate medical care directly caused PTSD, trauma, and Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (a life-threatening allergic reaction), where I was hospitalised in the HDU for many weeks, and they had to pause treatment for 9 weeks.
Having decided to change hospitals as I wanted to try and ensure I survived, my second hospital was much better! After 11 rounds of chemotherapy, we found out my cancer was non-responsive, so I went to surgery early, having a bilateral (double) goldilocks mastectomy with full lymph node removal (23 removed, 7 were cancer positive), as well as lymphovenous anastomosis surgery. I had a further 6 rounds of chemotherapy, which hospitalised me for a week at a time, and which made all my hair fall out. In total I had 17 rounds of chemotherapy, followed by 15 rounds of radiotherapy.
I was given the news that I was ‘no evidence of disease’ in January 2025. I still have many symptoms and side-effects, some of which will last forever, and I will need some further surgery, but hopefully I am through most of my cancer treatment.
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