A woman was diagnosed with a rare form of breast cancer after she was initially told blood leaking from her nipple "was normal". Jayanne Suggett, who was 27 at the time, had been suffering from shoulder pain for a while.
She then discovered a “golf ball-sized lump” around her left rib cage. Jayanne was told that it was a cyst, and that she was probably “too young” for it to be serious.
However, over the next few weeks the pain became worse and in February 2020 she ended up in A&E when blood started leaking from her nipple. When doctors told her that this was “normal” Jayanne pushed for answers and shortly after lockdown she was told she had a rare form of breast cancer, the Liverpool Echo reports.
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Jayanne, who is now 30 and lives in Scotland, had further symptoms and she immediately started chemotherapy before having a double mastectomy. She said:" I'm very special, no-one has this form of breast cancer, they can't figure out where it came from or how."
Now she’s waiting for further reconstruction surgery on a “huge waiting list” but thinks things might have been different had her shoulder pain been taken seriously. She said: "Age is very much a stigma, I was dismissed and in a way I stopped fighting for myself because everyone tells you you're wrong and you think they know best.
"But listen to your gut and check your body. I'm happy I'm alive and I can tell my story, I do see the world in a different light. I know I'm different and I'm glad to be."
Jayanne’s experience inspired her auntie JoAnne Briody-Skinner, from St Helens, to do something to help. JoAnne has lost other family members to different forms of cancer.
JoAnne's sister, Leslie Wright, died in 2020 at the age of 65 after she had "cancer everywhere". In 2001, JoAnne's sister Vivienne Winger died at the age of 47 having been diagnosed with cervical cancer. For several years, her dad Jack has also been battling bowel and skin cancer but is "still fighting".
Working as a teacher of inclusion at the Saint Edmund Arrowsmith Catholic Academy, 48-year-old JoAnne was particularly affected when she saw an year 11 student diagnosed with cancer who, despite undergoing chemotherapy treatment still tries his best in school. Her best friend has also recently been diagnosed with breast cancer after she found a lump "by accident".
Pauline Clarke had her arms folded one morning, without a bra, and felt a lump. Despite thinking it was nothing, she got it checked and was soon diagnosed with a high grade cancer as she urged people to check their breasts regularly, adding: "Mine grew in three months."
It was then, JoAnne decided to take action and do something to help, in what she called a "midlife crisis". On March 31, she had her hair cut off at the Whiston school, as her students and staff cheered her on. She told the ECHO: "When my family were diagnosed with cancer, Macmillan have always supported us and I knew I wanted to give back.
"My dad was diagnosed 13 years ago, I've lost two sisters to cancer and my niece is also suffering. But what really pushed me was a friend of mine retired last summer and by October she was being treated for stage 2 breast cancer and as she's started to lose her hair, it's really affected her.
"It inspired me to do something unexpected and chop off my long blonde hair. I wanted to do it at the school because last year a young man was diagnosed with cancer and the first thing he did was shave his head."
Setting a fund raising target of £500, this was surpassed and the fundraiser has so far raised over £1,100 which is the equivalent cost of one week's palliative care provided by the Macmillan cancer charity.
JoAnne added: "If people see me bald, I want them to ask questions and raise awareness. All of the kids will come and watch it, we've had some kids donate £20 or some £1 out of their own pocket money and the support has ben incredible. So many children didn't know about MacMillan so it's opened up those conversations.
"Macmillan isn't about the disease or the pain, it's about supporting people living with cancer, celebrating people living with it rather than seeing it as a death sentence. The important thing for me is to raise awareness.
"Check your bodies, know yourself and react quickly when something changes. It's so important for me to give something back because cancer isn't a death certificate."
Anyone wishing to donate to JoAnne's Brave the Shave can do so by clicking here.
For more of today's top stories, click here.
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