healthmedicinet

• Morag McTiernan, now 21, was studying performing arts at university 
• Went to her GP in 2010 but was told she had an infection of the milk duct
• Her breast pain got so bad she was forced to give up dancing
• She sought a second opinion and was sent to a specialist for tests
• Doctors told her she had breast cancer and needed surgery
• Had a mastectomy to remove her right breast at the age of 19
• One of only four teenagers a year diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK
• Parents fundraising to thank North East’s Teenage Cancer Trust for support

By
Daily Mail Reporter
and Madlen Davies For Mail Online

Published:
07:39 EST, 4 September 2014

|
Updated:
04:18 EST, 5 September 2014

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A student has told how she was forced to undergo a mastectomy aged just 19 – two years after her doctor failed to spot that she had cancer.

Morag McTiernan, who was 17 when she first suffered symptoms, believes her age was the reason her GP did not suspect the disease was their cause.

Breast cancer is incredibly rare in teenagers, and only four are diagnosed with it in the UK each year – a chance of one in half a million.

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Mhairi, 53 and Peter McTiernan, 57, are running the 13 mile Great North Run this weekend to raise money for North East Teenage Cancer Trust, who supported daughter Morag, 21, when she suffered breast cancer

But Miss McTiernan, now 21, believes she might have been able to keep her breast had the disease been spotted sooner, and has now spoken out to warn other young girls. She said: ‘I can’t help but think that if I had been an older lady who had the same symptoms my GP would have thought about cancer.

‘There were two years between the pain starting and eventually being diagnosed.

‘Who knows how much the cancer could have grown in that time, I might have been able to keep my breast if it was diagnosed sooner.’

Miss McTiernan, from Middlesbrough, first went to her GP in 2010 because of pain in her right breast as well as discharge, but she was told that it was an infection of the milk duct.

Miss McTiernan, 21, from Middlesbrough was forced to undergo a mastectomy to remove her right breast when she was just 19 (pictured left) but has fully recovered (pictured right)

Miss McTiernan, pictured with her family, said she believes had her disease been detected earlier, she might have had a chance to keep her breast. She said she thinks her age played a part in her misdiagnosis

But the pain eventually became so bad that the teenager, who was studying performing arts and was a keen ballet and contemporary dancer at the time, went to get a second opinion.

SYMPTOMS OF BREAST CANCER 

The first symptom of breast cancer most women notice is a lump or an area of thickened tissue in their breast. Most lumps (90%) are not cancerous, but it is always best to have them checked by your doctor.

See your GP if you notice any of the following:

· a lump or area of thickened tissue in either breast

· a change in the size or shape of one or both breasts

· discharge from either of your nipples (which may be streaked with blood)

· a lump or swelling in either of your armpits

· dimpling on the skin of your breasts

· a rash on or around your nipple

· a change in the appearance of your nipple, such as becoming sunken into your breast

· pain in either of your breasts or armpits not related to your period

Source: NHS Choices

She said: ‘I couldn’t dance and I kept just thinking, they said this was normal, it’s nothing serious. But I was wrong.

‘I went to a different GP and they put me at ease, explained it was probably nothing to worry about but referred me to a specialist breast clinic for tests.’ Two days later Miss McTiernan was told she had breast cancer.

She said: ‘I should have been more shocked, but I was kind of expecting it, I knew something was really wrong.

‘I was referred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Newcastle where they have a teenage cancer unit for a lumpectomy.

‘But later that week I was told that the cancer was bigger than they had expected and so I had to have a mastectomy.

‘It was horrible news, I would have done anything to avoid that surgery. I was dead against it from the start, but I knew that the surgeon knew best.

‘The operation did take away the cancer and that’s what’s important.

‘I have had the breast reconstructed and had both things done during one operation so when I woke up it was all done.’

Miss McTiernan has recovered from her surgery and has also undergone radiotherapy and hormone treatment.

She is looking forward to returning to university in Sunderland this month, but said her attitude to life has changed.

Before being diagnosed with breast cancer, Miss McTiernan was studying performing arts in Sunderland

She said: ‘I don’t make plans any more, you literally never know what life is going to throw at you. The cancer has definitely made me a stronger person and it has taught me to accept whatever life has in store for me.’

Her parents, Mhairi, 53 and Peter, 57, are running the Great North Run this weekend to thank the North East’s Teenage Cancer Trust for its support in looking after their daughter.

Dr Mark Verrill, a consultant medical oncologist at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, said: ‘Breast cancer in young women is exceptionally rare. The chance of being diagnosed in this age bracket is one in 500,000.’ 

She said facing the disease has changed her attitude to life. She added: ‘ I don’t make plans anymore, you literally never know what life is going to throw at you so there isn’t much point’

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