Vicky and her fiancé Mike after getting engaged (Picture: Vicky Green)
It was a regular weekday in October when Vicky Green curled up on the sofa to watch Bake Off.
The weather was starting to get chilly, and so Vicky, a 31-year-old clothing merchandiser from Cheshire, snuggled her hands under her armpits to warm them up. But it was at this moment she felt a lump in her left breast.
‘I was like, “what the hell was that? That’s never been there before.”’ she told Metro.co.uk. ‘I sat up and gave it a good feel.’
Because her mum had always ‘drilled in’ the importance of checking for signs of cancer and wearing SPF to Vicky and her siblings, there was no doubt in her mind that she should make a doctor’s appointment.
‘I gave it a week in case it was just hormones and then I made the appointment to see the doctor to get it checked,’ she added.
‘The doctor found a second lump and I was referred to a hospital three weeks later, and they reassured me that it was probably nothing.
‘I had mammograms and ultrasounds and nine biopsies taken, and the doctor took me back into the room after all that and said, “I need you to prepare yourself because after seeing these ultrasounds it does look a little more concerning – it could be cancer,”’ she recalled.
Vicky and Mick have been together since 2019 (Picture: Vicky Green)
Vicky described the next two weeks as the worst of her life while waiting for the results to come back. ‘It was just so awful, I was physically ill just worrying – I couldn’t eat or sleep.’
Then, on November 29, 2023 it was confirmed that she had triple negative breast cancer.
Doctors were able to catch Vicky’s cancer early, but warned that she needed to start treatment as soon as possible, as her form of breast cancer is aggressive and grade three – one of the fastest to grow and spread.
‘We got back from the hospital that night and cried. You just never think it’s going to be you,’ she added.
Her partner of four years, Mick Thurston, also shared Vicky’s shock. ‘I couldn’t quite wrap my head around it and how much life was going to change for us,’ he told Metro.co.uk. ‘It just didn’t feel possible at 30 years old.’
Breast cancer facts and signs
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK, accounting for 15% of all new cancer cases, Cancer Research UK says. It is most common in older people aged 75 and over, however incidence rates rise steadily from age 25-29 and more steeply from age 35-39 in females. Men are also at risk of getting breast cancer.
The symptoms include:
A lump or swelling in the breast, chest or armpit.
A change to the skin, such as puckering or dimpling where the skin looks pulled in.
A change in the colour of the breast – it may look red or inflamed.
A nipple change, for example, it has become …read more
Source:: Metro
