Mother, 34, who was diagnosed with aggressive breast cancer reveals medics told her THREE times her symptoms were ‘nothing to worry about’ because she was ‘too young and didn’t fit the profile’
- Lori Delaney, from Glasgow, diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer
- Medics failed to diagnose three times and suggested ‘nothing to worry about’
- Doctors last year suggested she was too young to suffer from the condition
A mother with an aggressive form of breast cancer has claimed medics failed to diagnose her three times – and even suggested ‘there was nothing to worry about’.
Lori Delaney, then 33, from Glasgow, was told by doctors last year that she was too young to suffer from the condition but persevered until her health fears were taken seriously – which she says saved her life, according to The Mirror.
After discovering a lump on her lip and breast and feeling exhausted, the mother-of-two visited her GP as well as a Breast Cancer Awareness truck, only to be told three times that there was ‘nothing to worry about’ and that she ‘didn’t fit the profile’.
But after much persistence, doctors eventually referred Lori to Gartnavel General Hospital, where was diagnosed with an aggressive grade three form of breast cancer in October 2019, before undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy.
Lori’s treatment was initially cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic but she has since finished radiotherapy and was declared cancer free in May – but has been placed on medication for the next ten years.
Lori Delaney (pictured), then 33, from Glasgow, was told by medics that she was too young to suffer from breast cancer but persevered until her health fears were taken seriously
After discovering a lump on her lip and breast and feeling exhausted, the mother-of-two (pictured with her daughter) visited her GP as well as a Breast Cancer Awareness truck, only to be told three times that there was ‘nothing to worry about’ and that she ‘didn’t fit the profile’
But after much persistence, doctors eventually referred Lori (above) to Gartnavel General Hospital, where was diagnosed with an aggressive grade three form of breast cancer in October 2019, before undergoing six rounds of chemotherapy
Sharing her story to raise awareness, Lori wrote on Facebook earlier this week: ‘I love the NHS but it is made up of people doing their best – human error can happen.
‘Trust your gut instincts, they will tell you the truth. I was told by three people not to worry, but somewhere deep inside me I knew. Trust yourself before you trust anyone else.’
After feeling off, Lori, who lives with husband Scott and children Harry, six, and Ella, five, visited her GP, who said her iron was low. The week before she’d gone to a Breast Cancer Awareness truck at her local Tesco.
Lori’s (pictured) treatment was initially cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic but she has since finished radiotherapy and was declared cancer free in May – but has been placed on medication for the next ten years
Sharing her story to raise awareness, Lori (pictured) wrote on Facebook earlier this week: ‘I love the NHS but it is made up of people doing their best – human error can happen’
Theatre maker Lori was concerned about her ill feelings since her aunt had been diagnosed with breast cancer two months before. But Lori claims the staff wouldn’t attend to her because she wasn’t under 50.
She later found a tiny lump in her breast and went to her doctor, but says: ‘She said it was nothing to worry about, it was just a lump young women get to do with hormones, and she said I didn’t fit the profile.’
But thanks to Lori’s perseverance, she was eventually sent to her local hospital ‘as a precaution and to put my mind at rest’.
After feeling off, Lori (pictured), who lives with husband Scott and children Harry, six, and Ella, five, visited her GP, who said her iron was low. The week before she’d gone to a Breast Cancer Awareness truck at her local Tesco
Shockingly, Lori said she was told by a medic that she had ‘never been so sure in her life’ that it was probably a benign lump.
The mother, who was working on a masters degree in performance practice at the University of Glasgow, recalled: ‘They did a biopsy but said that was routine and they didn’t do a mammogram because they weren’t worried, and I was so young.’
But two weeks later, Lori was told she had the most aggressive type of breast cancer, at grade three.
She underwent six rounds of ‘brutal’ chemotherapy before undergoing radiotherapy treatment until May, when she was declared cancer free. Lori will, however, continue to be on medication for the next ten years.
MailOnline has contacted Gartnavel General Hospital for comment.
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world and affects more than two MILLION women a year
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. Each year in the UK there are more than 55,000 new cases, and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. In the US, it strikes 266,000 each year and kills 40,000. But what causes it and how can it be treated?
What is breast cancer?
Breast cancer develops from a cancerous cell which develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.
When the breast cancer has spread into surrounding breast tissue it is called an ‘invasive’ breast cancer. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells have grown beyond the duct or lobule.
Most cases develop in women over the age of 50 but younger women are sometimes affected. Breast cancer can develop in men though this is rare.
Staging means how big the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.
The cancerous cells are graded from low, which means a slow growth, to high, which is fast growing. High grade cancers are more likely to come back after they have first been treated.
What causes breast cancer?
A cancerous tumour starts from one abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or alters certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and multiply ‘out of control’.
Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors that can increase the chance of developing breast cancer, such as genetics.
What are the symptoms of breast cancer?
The usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast, although most breast lumps are not cancerous and are fluid filled cysts, which are benign.
The first place that breast cancer usually spreads to is the lymph nodes in the armpit. If this occurs you will develop a swelling or lump in an armpit.
How is breast cancer diagnosed?
- Initial assessment: A doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may do tests such as a mammography, a special x-ray of the breast tissue which can indicate the possibility of tumours.
- Biopsy: A biopsy is when a small sample of tissue is removed from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under the microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.
If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, further tests may be needed to assess if it has spread. For example, blood tests, an ultrasound scan of the liver or a chest x-ray.
How is breast cancer treated?
Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone treatment. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments are used.
- Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or the removal of the affected breast depending on the size of the tumour.
- Radiotherapy: A treatment which uses high energy beams of radiation focussed on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells, or stops cancer cells from multiplying. It is mainly used in addition to surgery.
- Chemotherapy: A treatment of cancer by using anti-cancer drugs which kill cancer cells, or stop them from multiplying
- Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can stimulate the cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments which reduce the level of these hormones, or prevent them from working, are commonly used in people with breast cancer.
How successful is treatment?
The outlook is best in those who are diagnosed when the cancer is still small, and has not spread. Surgical removal of a tumour in an early stage may then give a good chance of cure.
The routine mammography offered to women between the ages of 50 and 70 mean more breast cancers are being diagnosed and treated at an early stage.
For more information visit breastcancercare.org.uk, breastcancernow.org or www.cancerhelp.org.uk
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