- Rebecca Hockaday, 40, was diagnosed with inflammatory breast cancer in 2012
- The mother-of-two had noticed some colored freckles on her chest and breast
- A biopsy confirmed that she had the rare and aggressive form of breast cancer
- Hockaday, from Georgia, had chemotherapy, a mastectomy and radiation
- She was cancer-free within 10 months of her diagnosis and still is
Cheyenne Roundtree For Dailymail.com
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Rebecca Hockaday didn’t think anything of a colored freckle that appeared on her chest in summer of 2012.
The mother-of-two, who was then 35, only went to a dermatologist six months later because dozens of the strange dots popped up around her breast.
Hockaday, from Watkinsville, Georgia, was quickly ushered to a cancer institute where a biopsy revealed that she had a rare and aggressive form of breast cancer.
The splattering of ‘freckles’ were a symptom of her stage 3 inflammatory breast cancer.
After a bilateral mastectomy, chemotherapy and twice-a-day radiation treatments, Hockaday was cancer-free just 10 months after her diagnosis.
Now Hockaday, 40, is using her story as a cautionary tale about the unusual symptoms that inflammatory breast cancer has.
Rebecca Hockaday, 40, didn’t think freckles on her chest were signs of inflammatory breast cancer. She first noticed the spots in summer 2012 but didn’t see an expert for six months. Pictured: Hockaday with her husband and two sons after her chemotherapy treatment in 2013
The mother-of-two, from Watkinsville, Georgia, had to have aggressive chemotherapy, surgery and radiation to beat the stage 3 cancer. Pictured: Hockaday during her two-a-day radiation treatments in 2013 where her skin is discolored and the spots of cancer were
Hockaday said she was at first unbothered by the unusual spot because she had no other symptoms to alert her of breast cancer.
She said to the Daily Mail Online: ‘It was summer and it was where my bathing suit cut off. There was only one so I didn’t think anything of it.
‘But then another one came and then more, so I thought I should get it looked at.’
Hockaday went to a dermatologist who was able to immediately recognize the spots as a symptom of inflammatory breast cancer, a usually hard-to diagnosis disease.
Eleven days before Christmas in 2012, the skin doctor’s suspicions were confirmed by the Emory’s Winship Cancer Institute.
Hockaday (pictured with her husband after the cancer) was told her condition was progressed and not only was it in her skin, it was in her lymphatics and lymph nodes just 11 days before Christmas
Hockaday (pictured left and right during her treatment) was declared cancer-free in 2013, just 10 months after her diagnosis
SYMPTOMS OF INFLAMMATORY BREAST CANCER
Redness of the breast: Redness involving part or all of the breast is a hallmark of the cancer. Sometimes the redness comes and goes.
Swelling of the breast: Part of or all of the breast may be swollen, enlarged, and hard.
Warmth: The breast may feel warm.
Orange-peel appearance: Your breast may swell and start to look like the peel of a navel orange (this is called ‘peau d’orange’).
Other skin changes: The skin of the breast might look pink or bruised, or you may have what looks like ridges, welts, or hives on your breast.
Swelling of lymph nodes: The lymph nodes under your arm or above the collarbone may be swollen.
Flattening or inversion of the nipple: The nipple may go flat or turn inward.
Aching or burning: Your breast may ache or feel tender.
Inflammatory breast cancer is rare, making up less than one percent of all breast cancers in the United States.
Cancer cells block lymph vessels in the skin of the breast and is called ‘inflammatory’ because the breast often looks swollen and red, or ‘inflamed.’
It usually begins with redness or swelling rather than a distinct lump. It grows and spreads quickly, usually worsening within days or even hours.
It can easily be confused with a breast infection.
Hockaday was told her condition was progressed and not only was it in her skin, it was in her lymphatics and lymph nodes.
She said: ‘No one was in the Christmas spirit. The news made the entire family not want to celebrate. We were supposed to go on a cruise but we couldn’t go.’
Hockaday started chemotherapy the day she was supposed to depart for the family’s tropical trip, just weeks after her diagnosis.
After her chemotherapy and a bilateral mastectomy, Hockaday was started on an aggressive radiation treatment.
The cancer had spread to her skin so doctors had Hockaday on a double-dose of radiation, twice a day. She had 44 radiation treatments in total.
Although painful and tiring, Hockaday said it was all worth it because she was cancer-free just 10 months after her diagnosis.
Hockaday still has to go into the hospital monthly for injections, routinely for scans and take daily medication to see if the cancer returns.
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Inflammatory breast cancer does not have the normal symptoms of breast cancer and it can easily be confused with a breast infection. Pictured: Hockaday after her intensive radiation treatment. She had a total of 44 radiation treatments in 2013
For now, Hockaday is hopeful she can keep it at bay for awhile.
Hockaday said: ‘When it comes back, it comes back with a vengeance. There are no signs of it right now. My biggest fear is telling my husband and sons that it came back.
‘I know that at some point it will come back. I can do the fight but right now I’m not thinking about it.’
Inflammatory breast cancer is always diagnosed to be at least stage IIB, because it has grown into the skin.
If the cancerous cells have spread to many nearby lymph nodes it could be classified as stage 3 C.
The median survival rate for people at these stages is about 57 months, or nearly five years.
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