Check Your Boobs, Mine Tried To Kill Me

Today marks the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month and we wanted to share an incredibly important story written by the very brave and courage Amanda Agbebi, Quality Assurance & Training Lead at Somek & Associates. Mandy has experienced breast cancer first hand and she is so keen to get the message out there, just how vitally crucial it is that everybody attends their screening appointments. Don't become a statistic.
#BreastCancerAwarenessMonth

Firstly, I make no apologies about the starkness of the title of this article – this is the reality for many every year – including me.

“Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK... A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every10 minutes and a man every day... It’s estimated that routine screening prevents around 1,300 deaths from breast cancer each year in the UK.” breastcancernow.org

In October last year I was one of those being diagnosed and I want to share my story with you.

My main focus for this article is getting across the importance of attending routine mammogram screening. There are of course other checks you should be doing, and seeking medical attention if any abnormalities are found.

As part of routine breast cancer screening, women are invited to attend a mammogram appointment when they reach the age of 50 and every three years after that. My first mammogram was around 2020 – everything clear, next routine appointment 2023.

September 2023 I had my next routine mammogram; the ‘mammogram bus’ was very helpfully in the car park where I pick up my daughter from school. I was in and out in less than 5 minutes and I am pretty sure I got in the car and said to Abi, ‘that’s it for another 3 years’. I had no lumps or abnormalities so felt confident everything would be clear – how wrong was I!

A couple of weeks later, I received a letter which I thought was one of those letters that get sent out to review the services, when you have attended an NHS facility/service. It was actually a letter calling me in for further investigations at the breast clinic. My appointment ended up being the day after I received the letter.

I had various scans, repeat mammograms and biopsies, and was told there and then that it was highly likely I had breast cancer! Just a tip for anyone who does get called for further investigations – don’t do what I did and go by yourself. They are very honest at the clinic and if they see something of concern, they will tell you at this appointment. Hearing the words ‘it is highly likely you have breast cancer’ is a shock to say the least, and anyone who has been given a cancer diagnosis will I am sure relate to this. I did not really take in much else that was said to me that day.

I received the definitive diagnosis on 24^th October 2023; lots of information was given to me by the Consultant and nurse but the main things that I took away from that appointment were:

• It is treatable.
• Because of where the areas of cancer were, it would have been a long time before I would have had any signs that there was something wrong; so it was a good thing that I attended my screening appointment.

Telling my children Kieron and Abi (18 & 14 at the time), was hands down the most difficult thing I have ever had to do, BUT the silver lining to the very dark cloud was that I was able to tell them it was treatable. Without dwelling too much on things – what a different story it would have been if I had not attended screening.

I had three areas of concern (one turned out to be benign but the other two were malignant) and a ‘splodge’ of pre-cancerous cells. What followed was a whirlwind of investigations, insertion of guidewires and various other appointments, to say my head was spinning would be an understatement! I had my first surgery of 4.5 hours in November 2023, and then started this year off having a second shorter surgery as the margins were not clear after the first surgery. Radiotherapy followed in February and I was given the all clear not long after, with yearly mammograms, follow up and medication for five years.

The NHS England website states that “In 2022 – 23, a total of 1.93 million women aged 50 to 70 (64.6%) attended screening appointments (within six months of invitation) out of the 2.98 million invited to book a check-up… however 35.4% of women did not attend their appointments… The screening programme led to cancers being detected in 18,942 women across England in 2022 – 23, which otherwise may not have been diagnosed and treated until a later stage.” Please be amongst the percentage of women who attend their screening appointment, it might save your life.

Whilst the last year has been a rollercoaster and has been challenging at times, I feel incredibly lucky and grateful for the mammogram screening service. I certainly do not take anything for granted and enjoy things like watching Kieron playing football and Abi dancing even more than I did previously.

I could not write this without saying a massive thank you to my amazing training team at the time (Michelle, Julia and Susie) who kept things running in my absence, and to everyone at Somek who went above and beyond to make my life easier whilst I was going through investigations and treatments.

Amanda Agbebi, Quality Assurance & Training Lead, Somek & Associates