Sarahs Story -

Hi. My name is Sarah and I'm a 35 year old secondary school teacher from Swindon. I’m a mum to 2 year old Reggie and a wife to Dan, after getting married in 2021. 2021 happened to be the last normal year I would have. Reggie was born in April and we were married in a small ceremony in July. The weather was glorious and life was good after the crappy covid years! However, in February 2022 I felt a small lump in my left armpit as I was washing in the shower. I didn’t really think much of it but called my GP anyway as soon as they opened. I was lucky enough to be seen by the GP that day who assured me that he didn’t think it was anything sinister and to return after I’d had a period, as it was most likely due to hormonal changes. There is no cancer of any kind in my family, and no history of breast cancer. I was also only 33. SURELY too young for it to be cancer. I returned to the GP 2 weeks later as the lump was still there and I was sent to the GWH on the 2 week cancer pathway. Even at this point I was being told it was likely to be a cyst.

When I was seen at the hospital it was pretty evident straight away that this lump was not a cyst under ultrasound. It was a rock solid lump. The hospital did a biopsy there and then and I was told that they were almost 100% certain that I had cancer. It just needed to be confirmed with the lab. It turns out that not only did I have cancer, but I had an aggressive type of breast cancer called Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) which does not respond to hormonal treatments which might otherwise be used in other, more common types of breast cancer. It had also migrated up from my breast to my lymph nodes and into the chain of nodes in my neck. For 16 months I underwent 15 brutal rounds of chemotherapy. To try and bring a bit of positivity into to situation I shaved and donated my hair to The Little Princess Trust and raised £4000 for cancer charities. I was also accepted onto a clinical trial of a type of immunotherapy that has since been licenced for use in breast cancer and had that alongside the chemo every week. I underwent surgery to remove the affected tissue and all my lymph nodes in my left armpit and in December 2022 I had multiple rounds of radiotherapy to give it all one last blast. We really did throw everything and the kitchen sink at it and the team at the GWH were just phenomenal. Fast forward to the end of 2023 and I was told I’d had a complete pathological response to the treatment. My cancer had gone!

However, in December 2023 I called my breast nurse stating that I’d been suffering with headaches and that these were progressively getting worse. I think I knew in my heart what was coming. I was referred for a CT scan and an MRI scan of my head and was told that, despite my brilliant response to my primary cancer, I now have a 13mm tumour in the frontal lobe of my brain. Chemo had done an amazing job in the rest of my body but it cannot penetrate the blood brain barrier, so some rogue cells had escaped and made their way up there. I had just got my life back to some sense of normal, whatever that looks like when you’ve had cancer. I was back at work, doing what I love again full-time, and my hair had grown back. We were making plans and life was on the up. Now, it is not a case of not trying to cure the cancer, but manage it and the symptoms. The swelling caused by the tumour causes pain and means that I am prone to falling over (much to the hysterics of my 2 year old) but it can also cause me to shake. I can no longer drive due to the risk of seizures.

If you take anything from my story, please let it be to cherish every memory and moment you have with your loved ones. And, for f***s sake, check your boobs and balls! Go to your GP if anything is unusual for you.