A young Glasgow mum 'could barely breathe' after being diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer as she urges other parents to 'be vigilant' as they 'owe it to their children'.
When Rachel Borthwick, 33. found a lump between her breast and her armpit 'by accident' in September last year she feared the worst.
The terrified mum-of-two forked out over £400 for private scans to secure answers as quickly as possible.
Weeks later Rachel's worst fears were confirmed when medics revealed she had triple negative breast cancer, a particularly aggressive form of the disease.
Six months on Rachel has completed successful rounds of treatment and, in theory, her cancer has gone.
But with triple negative having a notoriously high recurrence rate, the stay-at-home mum 'lives in constant fear' and hopes sharing her story will make other young people 'check themselves'.
She told Glasgow Live: "I found my lump by accident by knocking my shoulder, my hand brushed past the lump and I panicked.
"You hear all these horror stories and I feared the worst.
"I needed answers so went to the doctor straight away."
After hearing she may need to wait 'weeks' for scans Rachel made the difficult decision to shell out for scans at Ross Hall; a private clinic in Glasgow.
"There was no way I was waiting," she added.
"The sooner I knew what was going on, good or bad, the better.
"And if it was cancer, why give it more time to spread?"
After a mammogram and ultrasound at Ross Hall Clinic, followed by a biopsy on the NHS, Rachel was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer on October 21.
"My whole world turned upside down when the doctor told me, I could barely breathe and my mum just broke down," she added.
"There are no words to describe what that moment is like - especially not knowing the full prognosis.
"I told my children, Jaxon, seven and Marlow, four a few weeks later and they were shocked but have been very resilient, as kids are.
"I wouldn't wish it upon anyone."
Rachel endured six rounds of chemotherapy and 10 radiotherapy sessions.
Her treatment ended on April 29 but the emotional toll was worse than the physical.
"I've spent months lying awake at night terrified that I'll not be here," she said.
"Christmas wasn't great, I was in the middle of chemo and had to put a brave face on. The same thing with Jaxon's birthday in December.
"Mentally I am still scarred from it and not in a good place.
"Every now and again, what's happened to me just hits me.
"It's been so hard."
Rachel is speaking out as she fears other young parents, like her, will dismiss cancer as 'something that doesn't affect them'.
She added: "Yes breast cancer can be more common among older people.
"But it can happened to anyone, look at me.
"And just because our cancer is less common doesn't mean it's less important.
"All parents owe it to their children to keep checking themselves."
