On World Cancer Day, Claire describes how she was diagnosed with breast cancer aged just 33

“It was a big shock when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in April 2021, at the age of just 33. Since then, it’s been a challenging year of chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, but I’m now determined to challenge myself and get my fitness back.

As I was so young, I hadn’t yet got into the habit of checking my breasts regularly. When I discovered a lump in my left breast, it had already grown to quite a reasonable size. I went to my doctor, who thought it was just a cyst, but recommended that I got it checked out anyway. I had an ultrasound at the hospital, but even at that stage, the doctors were still saying my lump was a cyst.

I was sent away, but six months later the lump had got bigger and my hunch was that something wasn’t quite right. I went back to my GP, who suggested that I had the lump drained at the hospital. When I got there, the doctors also felt that something was wrong. They did a biopsy and diagnosed a weak form of HER2 positive breast cancer. My lump wasn’t just a cyst at all.

I have no family history of breast cancer (or indeed any cancer). Because of that, and also my age, the doctors thought I wasn’t at risk. When I first had my lump checked out, it did play on my mind that they diagnosed it as a cyst very quickly. At the same time, I feel relieved that I went back to the doctor’s when I did. When I was eventually diagnosed with breast cancer, the doctors were really shocked.

At the moment I’m being treated essentially as if I have triple negative breast cancer. I had chemotherapy, which shrunk the tumour in my breast, enough for my surgery to just be a lumpectomy, rather than a mastectomy. I shaved my hair off, after my hair started falling out during chemo. Scary though it was, there was an element of taking control and removing my hair myself. They took out two of the sentinel lymph nodes during my surgery and thankfully couldn’t find any trace of cancer in them. I’ve also had an intense two-week dose of radiotherapy and am taking the hormone therapy, Tamoxifen.

Having my treatment during lockdown has added quite a lot of stress to the process. Although I started my chemotherapy when things were starting to open up again, it was actually more nerve-wracking, because my immune system was so weakened. I was incredibly nervous about getting Covid. Because of my age when I was diagnosed, I hadn’t yet been vaccinated and I started my chemotherapy without being jabbed – although I did get my first dose not long after. I’ve now had all three.

Everyone at the hospital during my treatment has been absolutely amazing, as well as my GP’s. I’ve been able to ask my GP questions whenever I’ve needed to. I know a lot of people have been saying that they can’t get to see their GP because of the pandemic, but that hasn’t been my experience at all.

In hindsight, I wish I’d pushed to be referred sooner than I was. Raising awareness about breast cancer in younger women is so important – younger people should check themselves regularly too. Even doctors and nurses sometimes approach cases like mine with the opinion that it’s unlikely a young person will have breast cancer. It’s less likely, but I’m proof that it does happen.

I decided to sign up for The MoonWalk, partly because myself and my partner Andy (who has signed up too) absolutely love walking. One of the things I really struggled with during chemotherapy was my lack of fitness – even just taking my dog for a walk, I was often out of breath. I just want to get my fitness back! The MoonWalk seemed like a really good challenge and a fantastic way of doing that. I now have a goal to strive for. If I can help others and raise some money through doing that, even better.

Being so young, I admit that I am nervous about my breast cancer recurring. I can’t imagine that anyone wouldn’t be. I try not to dwell on what I think are the very negative cancer stories which often feature in big television fundraising events. Now that I’m starting to feel back to my normal self and hearing stories about women who have gone on to have children after a breast cancer diagnosis. I’m feeling positive for the future”.

Thank you for sharing your story Claire. We look forward to seeing you and Andy at The MoonWalk London 2022!

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