A young mum has died from breast cancer after the lump she showed doctors was dismissed as a blocked milk duct.
Sophie Collins, from Maidstone in Kent, was just 26 years old when she died in January from an aggressive form of breast cancer that spread through her entire body.
The single mum was diagnosed 13 months earlier while 10 weeks pregnant with her second child.
In the last months of her life, Sophie tried to raise awareness and push young women to consider the possibility of breast cancer affecting them too.
And now taking up the cause, her grieving brother Matthew is telling her story in the hopes of her legacy saving others from a similar fate.
Matthew told the Sun : “Sophie was a wonderful person. Cheerful, kind and brave. She was very funny and could make me cry with laughter.
“Growing up, we were always inseparable. But after our dad died of lymphoma cancer, when I was 14 and she was ten, that shared experience of losing a parent at a young age, bonded us even closer than before.”
Sophie first noticed something was not right after finding a lump on her left breast when she got out of the bath.
After discussing it with her family, she went to see the family doctor - who "dismissed the lump as merely being a blocked milk duct" because she was teen weeks pregnant with her second daughter.
The doctor sent "her away with advice to massage it in warm water,” Matthew said.
But the treatment did not help and as the lump continued to grow, Sophie insisted on getting a second opinion from a breast specialist.
At this appointment she was diagnosed with stage three Triple Negative Breast Cancer, which is generally considered the most-aggressive form of the disease.
Sophie's left breast was removed in January 2021, but biopsies taken after the surgery revealed it had spread to nearby lymph nodes.
By March that year and as she drew closer to full-term with her second child, she started chemotherapy.
After giving birth to baby Delilah on April 14, a scan showed the cancer had spread further - with tumours found in her collar bone, Matthew said.
It was then that doctors told Sophie that her cancer was incurable and terminal.
Sophie, who worked in housekeeping and at a Travelodge, posted updates about her journey on social media - initially as a way of keeping loved ones in the loop about how she was getting on.
It wasn't long before other young women reached out to her for advice after finding lumps of their own.
The young mum took her strength from her two daughters, Daisy and Delilah, Matthew said.
"All she wanted was more time with her babies. She knew what she wanted and wasn't prepared to settle," he told The Sun.
Sophie pushed through rounds of gruelling chemotherapy, with the hopes of it slowing the disease down.
But the cancer spread viciously through her body, latching on to her spine, hips, back and chest.
Three weeks after finishing chemotherapy in September, doctors delivered the devastating news that the treatment had not worked.
Daisy, who is now three, and her little sister Delilah, now eight months, are living with their separate dads.
Speaking of the girls' tragic loss, Matthew said: "Our hearts are just just breaking for Sophie’s girls. They have been robbed of a mummy who would do anything for them. But they should be so proud her.
“Since Sophie died, so many people have messaged us to say that they were followed her posts, commenting on what a lovely and brave person she was. A real fighter. And my God did she fight till her last breath.
"We are a very close family. Sophie's passing leaves a huge empty space in our hearts. But we are so very proud of the wonderful woman that she was.
“Even though her time and energy was limited and so precious, she gave it up to support and advise other young women. That says everything about her.”
