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Bodybuilder given just 12 months to live after 'bumping her ankle at the gym'

A bodybuilder claims she has 12 months to live after discovering a cyst on her ankle.

Nikki Jenkins, 39, from North West England, told the Liverpool Echo she first went to hospital in January after noticing the growth.

She described it like a “second ankle bone” and The Mirror reports she discovered the lump after banging her ankle at the gym.

Ms Jenkins wrote on a GoFundMe page in November she’s been diagnosed with stage four lung cancer “which spread from a rare form of soft tissue sarcoma on my ankle called Plemomorphic Rhabdomyosarcoma”.

This was after visiting another doctor in May.

Nikki Jenkins, 39, is pictured.
Nikki Jenkins, 39, discovered a lump on her ankle which has turned into lung cancer. Source: GoFundMe

“The diagnosis is that it is incurable and the NHS (National Health Service) have advised that without treatment I will have a maximum of 12 months to live,” she wrote.

“Being a professional athlete means I have been in complete health all round for my whole life. I eat well, train consistently, don't use sunbeds and my family doesn't have a history of cancer.

“This is of course, a situation I never expected myself to be in.”

The bodybuilder underwent an operation to remove the growth in September, including the removal of skin from her thigh to be used as a graft on a hole on her ankle.

Nikki Jenkins pictured with Natalie Parr.
Ms Jenkins with her friend Natalie Parr. Source: Nikki Jenkins

Unfortunately, the cancer returned and spread to her lungs. On November 5, she was told she had 12 months to live unless she underwent treatment.

"It's like a movie, it doesn't feel real, it doesn't feel like it's happening to me,” she told The Echo.

"How is this happening, I've got no symptoms. If I hadn't had to go to the doctors for check ups because of the tumour in my ankle I would have been completely unaware.”

Her family is hoping to raise more than $A96,000 for her treatment.

They are also hoping anyone with Plemomorphic Rhabdomyosarcoma contacts them so they can find out more about potential treatments.

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