This is my mum. She is one of the kindest and most caring people you could meet. On the 21st March she was taken from us at only 42 years old. She had breast cancer that was caught so late that it had spread to her liver. It was caught so late that she passed away 5 days after her formal diagnosis. She was only sick for about 2 months. During those 2 months she was incorrectly diagnosed 4 times. It began with her complaining of abdominal pain so it was believed she had a broken rib, then gall stones, then pancreatitis and an infection. However the second doctor she spoke to ran a specific blood test, CAT125 test, which flagged up the original possibility of cancer. Without that they would have never had known that she had it. After a later blood test showed a very high infection rate, of over 600, she was admitted to hospital to treat the infection. Which we now know was her liver shutting down as they were unable to detect where the infection was and also where it had come from. During her stay at the hospital 3 doctors were unable to physically feel the lumps in her breasts. It took the 4th doctor a long time to be able to discover them. 

20% of breast cancer diagnoses are under the age of 50. That’s about 11,000 people. Mammograms are the last resort when analysing abnormal breast pain. When they should be the first. Mammograms won’t be performed on someone under the age of 50 unless something can be physically felt. However 1 in 7 women are likely to get breast cancer and it is the 2nd highest mortality rate for cancer for women. There is a lot of guidance for checking your breasts but as I have previously stated 3 professional doctors were unable to feel the lumps in my mums, so how are we meant to. If my mum had regular breast scans from the age of 40 she may still be here today. Even lowering the age by 10 years could help so many more people and could prevent someone from feeling as horrible as I do now.