A nurse says a dog saved her life after headbutting her in the chest at a vet's. Angie Shaw says the incident helped her discover that she had breast cancer.
She claims that her road to diagnosis began when she was knocked her over and headbutted by a labrador that she was treating. Wales Online reports that that the collision with the animal caused a lump on the nurse's chest.
A week after the headbutting, Angie says the lump was still sore and visited her GP for treatment. A doctor then referred her for scans and biopsies which revealed she had a fast-growing form of breast cancer.
Angie then had an operation to remove the tumour, which had already grown by two millimetres within a fortnight of her diagnosis. Doctors says that without the dog knocking over the nurse, the tumour would have likely taken another ten months to be detected.
The nurse's next mammogram also wasn’t due for about nine months, by which time the grade three cancer would have been too advanced to be able to save her life.
Angie said: "The lump was purely coincidental and nothing to do with the cancer. But if the pet hadn’t head butted me, the cancer wouldn’t have shown up for nine to ten months by which point it would have spread. It would have been too late.
"That pet saved my life. When we turned him over, he headbutted me by my left breast, towards my breastbone. A decent-sized lump appeared. I left it for a week, but it was sore, so I got a doctor’s appointment the next day. I thought it was a cyst. When I was told that I would have to have surgery, chemotherapy and then radiotherapy my whole world fell apart."
The grandmother then had six rounds of chemotherapy which lasted months and 15 doses of chemotherapy. She then finished her treatment and is now celebrating being cancer free. However, following getting the all-clear, she is encouraging others to check for lumps as an "early diagnosis is so important."
Angie added: "My colleagues were really supportive. That helped massively. I said that I don’t want sympathy or special treatment as I am living with cancer, not dying from it. I will lose my hair so I will be wearing a wig.
"Tell me if it’s wonky or if the label is showing – but for goodness sake, get any lumps checked. I hate to be the centre of attention, but you swallow your pride.
"I thought if I could save one person’s life by encouraging them to get lumps checked, that’s my job done. Breast cancer is almost a taboo subject, but it is nothing to be ashamed of.
"There’s nothing I have done to cause it. There’s nothing I could have done to prevent it. I am lucky – because we found it in time. I lost some of my hair during the chemotherapy. It is a small price to pay. They are quite happy they have got all the cancer. It shows that early diagnosis is so important."
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