New Mum Diagnosed With Breast Cancer During Lockdown Urges Others To Get Symptoms Checked
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When Ruth Cottle and her husband discovered they were expecting their first baby, they were thrilled and knew 2020 would be a very different year for them. They never anticipated how fraught and challenging it would turn out to be.
Weeks after the birth of her baby daughter, Ruth was diagnosed with breast cancer – in the middle of the coronavirus lockdown.
The 32-year-old management consultant told HuffPost UK she went to her GP a week or so before lockdown was imposed to get a lump on her breast checked out – but acknowledged that if lockdown had already been in place, she would have delayed seeking medical advice.
She is now urging others with symptoms or fears about cancer to get checked out. Her message comes as experts voice their fears that people are ignoring symptoms because they are reluctant to seek medical help during the coronavirus crisis.
Latest figures reveal that the number of people seen by a specialist for suspected cancer following an urgent GP referral was around 26,000 lower than would have been expected in March.
Under normal circumstances, experts would have expected around 208,000 people in England to have been seen by a cancer specialist following urgent GP referral – but the figure was 181,873.
There are also concerns that hundreds more cancers may be going undetected at the earliest stage every week as vital screenings have been put on hold.
Ruth told HuffPost UK that she was full of excitement at the prospect of having her first baby and had a smooth pregnancy.
However, towards the end of her pregnancy, she noticed a lump in her left breast. “I had a bit of a google and from what I read, I found it was normal for your boobs to change during pregnancy as the milk production develops,” she said.
“Being 32, I didn’t think it was anything sinister. There is no history of any cancer in my family, let alone breast...
