Breast cancer-fighting Wigan mum urges people not to miss 'life-saving' appointments

Andrea Aspey was only 48 in 2016 when she received a letter asking her to schedule a mammogram appointment.

The mum-of-one from Hindley Green said that she thought the standard age for a breast scan was 50 - but was told that the age requirement had been lowered by two years - a change in legislation that would save her life.

After having the test, Andrea was given the all clear, and was free to carry on daily life unaffected by the incident.

Two years later, in September 2018, she discovered a lump in her breast.

“When I think back now, I never used to check myself,” she said. “I never really knew what to look for or if I was doing it right - so I just didn’t really do it.

“I had asked the nurse to do it for me a couple of times but on one occasion she wasn’t available and it was on my mind that I should be checking myself.

“I was sitting with my daughter, Sam, and I was fidgeting away and found the lump there and then.

“A couple of days later I checked again and it was still there.”

After visiting her GP, Andrea was sent straight to the breast clinic at Wigan Infirmary “just to check” that the lump was nothing serious.

“I told my husband John ‘I’ll be back in half an hour”, she said. “I really was that confident that it was just going to be a fatty lump and I would be on my way.

“I was there for three hours. I had another scan and another mammogram and then was led into a room.

“She said ‘come and sit down we have something to talk about’. At that point I filled up, I knew that was it.”

Andrea was told that the mammogram taken at the hospital was slightly “foggy”, but that this would not have been enough to cause grave concerns if it had not been for the mammogram taken two years before.

“There was a huge difference between the two scans,” she said. “It was because of the routine test in 2016 that they were even able to diagnose me, otherwise it may not have been found.”

Doctors found what was believed to be a one centimetre tumour in Andrea’s breast, however during the lumpectomy the surgeon discovered that the mass was actually 2.5cm.

“I just think how big it could have got had they not found it,” she said. “If I hadn’t had that previous one I might still not be diagnosed now.

“I was really upset when I got the diagnosis. I went with so much confidence that it was nothing and it turned out it was.”

Since the news, Andrea has undergone a lumpectomy and breast reconstruction.

Thankfully the cancer had not spread to her lymph nodes and her prognosis is good.

She is now waiting to find out if she will need chemotherapy as a preventative measure.

“I do have to have radiotherapy,” she added. “I’m just hoping I don’t have to have chemotherapy. But I will make it through this, I will survive it, thanks to that test and to checking myself.

“There is a message from this though. The NHS sends out those letters for a reason. They have done their research and got the figures to prove that sending those letters out and that stage is a good idea.

“There’s a good reason why they do it. It’s not because they want to make you uncomfortable. If you have a mammogram, you have so much more chance of catching it early - and that’s the key - early detection.”

Since her diagnosis Andrea says her family and friends have been her “rock”.

“Everyone has been brilliant,” she said.

“My mum has been to every appointment with me. John is there to make me see sense when I’m stuck in my own thoughts, and my in-laws Ann and Wilf have been fab.”

At the time of her diagnosis, Andrea had already agreed to take part in the Mad Dog 10k in Southport.

She hopes to take part in the race and “walk the whole way”, but has been told by her friends and sister - that they will push her round the course in a wheelchair - if she is too tired to take

part.

To find out more about mammograms and self-checking speak to your GP or visit www.cancerresearchuk.org/about-cancer/breast-cancer/screening/breast-screening