A mum claims a boob job 'saved her life' - after it pushed a hidden lump to the surface that turned out to be breast cancer. Rebecca Craggs had breast implants fitted last October but a fortnight later, while removing her bandages, her 'heart sank' as she felt a hard broad bean-sized lump on her right breast.
The 53-year-old rushed to see a GP to get it checked out and was eventually diagnosed with grade two invasive lobular breast cancer at the beginning of December. The mum-of-two had the 17mm lump surgically removed and received the good news that it hadn't spread, followed by three weeks of radiotherapy at the beginning of this April.
The former marketing executive 'counts her lucky stars' that she had the cosmetic surgery which enabled her to catch the cancer in the nick of time - as she wasn't due a mammogram for another two years. After a whirlwind ordeal, including a spinal tumour and sepsis featuring in her medical history, Rebecca is keen to raise awareness of the importance of going for routine mammograms and to regularly check for any lumps and bumps.
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Rebecca, of Birmingham, West Midlands, said: "I'm just counting my lucky stars that I actually had the boob job. Basically it was the implants that pushed the lump forward.
"So without that, I could have been wandering around not knowing I had it thinking that 15 months ago my mammogram was clear and I wasn't due another one for another two years. Unless it would have grown really quickly I wouldn't have felt it, so that was a blessing in disguise in a way.
"Because of the boob job I caught it early so it hadn't gone to my lymph nodes. It definitely could have saved my life. It saved it from progressing to further stages and ending up in my lungs, liver or whatever."
