“I thought I was too young to get breast cancer” | the health

“I thought maybe I’d start doing this kind of thing when I was in my fifties,” she told BBC Radio 1 Newsbeat.

However, after taking the exams, Lucy receives bad news. At the age of twenty-six, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Earlier this month, Sarah Harding, a singer with British-Irish band Girls Aloud, sang, Died of breast cancer at the age of 39.

After his death, the British breast cancer charity Coppaeel saw a massive increase in traffic to its website. More than 200,000 people visited its pages within 12 hours of news of Harding’s death – eight times more than usual. The charity encourages younger women to check their breasts for lumps.

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in Brazil , Ministry of Health It recommends, when in doubt, that the patient always seek an evaluation from a physician she trusts. The most common symptom of breast cancer is the appearance of a lump, “usually painless, solid and irregular, but tumors are soft in consistency, spherical in shape and well-defined.” Other signs of breast cancer are: cutaneous edema (on the skin), orange peel-like, skin retraction, pain, nipple inversion, engorgement, crusting or ulceration of the nipple, as well as papillary discharge, especially when it is one-sided and spontaneous.

The doctor was very silent.

It was just a coincidence that Lucy had checked out her lump. She had a day off from work, so she went to the doctor.

“I think about it all the time,” she said. “I’m so glad I had a vacation that day. It would have been a completely different story otherwise. That’s why I’m here today.”

Even when the GP referred Lucy to the breast clinic, it hadn’t occurred to her that it might be breast cancer.

But when her sister insisted on getting an ultrasound, Lucy began to realize that something was wrong.

“The doctor was very calm,” she says.

A week later, she was told she had cancer. The cancer soon spread to the lymph nodes.

Lucy was told she would need chemotherapy, radiotherapy, and surgery.

“There were times when I couldn’t eat, I couldn’t sleep,” she says. “I was up 20 hours a day, not moving from where I was in my bed.”

“It looked so bad, my skin was so bad, my entire hair, including my eyebrows and eyelashes, had fallen out.”

After surgery and radiotherapy, Lucy finally received some good news – there were no more cancer cells left.

Lucy is still undergoing hormone therapy and working with CoppaFeel! To spread the idea that breast cancer can affect younger women.

“Don’t think this can’t happen to you. I don’t want to be pessimistic, but just be mindful,” she says.

Stigma in the black community

Lucy also wants to make more people in the black community realize the importance of getting breast checked for lumps.

“I think there’s a lot of stigma around the disease. We don’t want to talk about the disease, but it’s important that we do. When I see these ads about cancer, I don’t see black people.”

“I almost feel like it’s not happening to us.”

Fran didn’t think this would happen to her either, but at the age of 24 she noticed a lump in her breast.

At first, doctors sent her away, saying it was a “hormonal” nodule. Only 18 months later, when she found other symptoms, she came back for another test.

She was worried about making the NHS (UK public health system) waste of time, as she had been sent home before.

But after several tests, Fran was told she had stage 4 breast cancer as well as a brain tumor. I heard she has two years to live.

“I was 25. I’m a personal trainer. I was healthier than ever. I was living proof that this can happen to anyone, at any age.”

She underwent a “vigorous chemotherapy routine” and now Fran’s cancer is beginning to heal. She shared her story online to spread the idea that younger women can get breast cancer.

“I’ve been so open about my journey on social media, I’ve documented everything I’ve been through.”

“It always seemed to be portrayed as a problem for older women. Before this year, I kind of thought I didn’t have to worry about it until I got older.”

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