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'I woke to find my breast had collapsed overnight'

Ewan GawneNorth West
Cancer Research UK A woman with spiky purple hair and glasses, wearing a blue roll neck, smiles while stood inside a dimly-lit living room. Cancer Research UK
Sue Cook was referred to hospital immediately by the GP

A woman woke up to find one of her breasts had collapsed overnight because of an extremely fast-growing form of cancer, on the day she was due to see her GP.

At the age of 54, Sue Cook from Wigan had already booked an appointment after noticing her right breast felt larger and there was a "knotted thread" lump under the skin.

It was the beginning of a 17-year ordeal for the former art teacher who needed radical surgery, daily radiotherapy, and years of hormone therapy to recover.

She said advances in treatments she received meant she was "alive today and loving life".

Cancer Research UK A man with a bald head, large white beard and glasses holds his arm around a woman with purple hair and glasses. The pair are smiling and are sitting on a chair outside. Cancer Research UK
The mum-of-four checked her breasts "every pay day" until the shock discovery

Sue said: "I've done a lot since my diagnosis, I saw my children get married, I became a grandma again."

She has praised the work of scientists and researchers at Cancer Research UK for developing the radiotherapy and drug treatments she received.

"Cancer remains the UK's biggest killer, so we must continue to back research into new and better ways to beat this devastating disease," she said.

Cancer Research UK A woman with spiky, short purple hair and distinct, purple-rimmed glasses smiles while standing next to a younger man with black glasses, brown hair, and a light beard with goatee. Cancer Research UK
Sue said she has been able to spend more time with her loved ones because of cancer research

Sue, now 71, said she had checked her breasts every pay day, once a month, before she found something and had booked to see a GP.

She awoke on the day of the appointment in shock to find her right breast had collapsed, and she was referred immediately by her doctor to hospital.

After tests, a week later Sue was told she had a fast-growing form of breast cancer and was given a poor prognosis.

Chemotherapy followed to shrink the multiple tumours found which had attached to her chest wall and made her breast collapse.

She then needed a radical mastectomy, which involved removing her right breast, muscles and lymph nodes, before daily radiotherapy.

Later she had her left breast removed as well, and then took the hormone therapy drug tamoxifen for the next 14 years.

The grandmother-of-eight, who lives in Standish, said she feared she might not have reached retirement without the advances made by research.

Jane Bullock from Cancer Research UK said: "We're living in a golden age of research" but she warned there was more to do, with "nearly 1 in 2 people set to be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime".

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