Dear Kind Reader,
Thank you for tuning in. So here it goes, I am 35 years old and I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 33 one week before my 34th birthday and I was devastated and extremely angry about the news.
I was very angry because I pushed and drove my care with my GP to make an urgent referral to the 2 weeks’ rule breast cancer one stop pathway speciality, when I felt lumps on my left breast. My GP eventually made this referral as they saw I was relentless and I was not letting go of this matter. I was referred to an NHS hospital and the sonographer who saw me and performed the ultra sound scan decided that I should be discharged back to my GP. She said to me ‘I have nothing to worry about’ I am young woman, although the scan showed calcification she said a lot of women my age get calcification. She showed no care and was very nonchalant. I was then sent me home with no booklets to read to understand what calcification meant?
I went home but I knew something wasn’t right. However, I was facing a challenging time at work which over-rid my gut feelings for a moment as I had to focus on the fight I had to go through at work.
Once I overcame the challenge at work, I got a new job then I started to research more what should have taken place during my ultra sound scan. I learnt that a biopsy should have been adminstered especially in my case as it was the first time experiencing calcification. Therefore, I pushed for a biopsy and re-referral with my GP to the 2 weeks’ rule breast cancer one stop pathway again and I requested a guided biopsy ultra sound scan. Then 2 weeks later the results returned as DCIS breast cancer.
Due to this horrific experience I have become passionate about raising awareness on early detection and educating people. Since unfortunately I had to drive my own health care and educate myself. This traumatic experience lend me to create a petition on requesting that the health care services should provide mandatory biopsies for women or men who have detected a lump on their breast as this can potentially reduce the amount of trauma that someone will have to face. One traumatic experience is losing a body part however, if caught early possibly that body part could be saved !
I created this petition whilst going through chemotherpay and I worked hard on getting in contact with my MP to ask him to sign and post my petition on his X account, please see below;
I want to urge you to please give yourself the duty of care to check your body and to push on getting the right checks done. As you have read a surface level of what I had to face, always remember no one will care about you or your body as much as you will.
I will pause here and let my lived experience sit with you, to visualise how I was feeling. I will continue to share more of my story on another post. If you have any questions please do reach out to me via my social media handles.
Thank you for reading, do not forget to connect with me on here and on instagram.
Warm wishes
Andréa Xxx 💕
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