{"id":250700,"date":"2026-01-18T06:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T06:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250700\/"},"modified":"2026-01-18T06:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T06:04:00","slug":"mum-who-felt-sharp-breast-pain-during-yoga-session-was-later-diagnosed-with-breast-cancer-and-now-faces-another-mastectomy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/250700\/","title":{"rendered":"Mum who felt sharp breast pain during yoga session was later diagnosed with breast cancer and now faces another mastectomy"},"content":{"rendered":"

A mum who felt a sharp pain in her breast during a yoga session was later diagnosed with lobular breast cancer and now faces another mastectomy.<\/p>\n

Vicki Poole, a 45-year-old marketing agency director, who lives in Ruislip, west London, attended her usual yoga class in December 2021 and, after visiting her GP and having tests, she was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer in February 2022.<\/p>\n

According to Breast Cancer Now, lobular breast cancer is a type of cancer that affects the cells of the lobules, milk-producing glands, of the breast.<\/p>\n

Scans revealed a 10cm by 4cm by 6cm tumour as well as \u201ctwo suspicious\u201d lymph nodes in her armpit, but thankfully the cancer had not spread to anywhere else in her body.<\/p>\n

In April 2022, she had a mastectomy on her right breast, followed by chemotherapy, which triggered a heart arrhythmia that left her back in hospital just days after finishing chemotherapy.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

After then having radiotherapy, hormone therapy and heart surgery, in July 2024, her left nipple bled and she noticed some \u201crough patches of skin\u201d which turned out to be a sign of abnormal cells.<\/p>\n

As a result, she has decided to have a mastectomy on her left breast and is currently waiting for her surgery date.<\/p>\n

Vicki, who lives with her husband, Martyn, 47, and their two children, told PA Real Life: \u201cI just remember, when I got diagnosed, saying, \u2018Oh my God, my children are so young\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just thought \u2018Am I going to die and will my children remember me?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

In December 2021, Vicki was in a hot yoga class when she felt a sharp pain at the bottom of her right breast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought at the time it was related to the movement \u2013 I thought maybe I was doing the move wrong,\u201d Vicki recalled.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to come off of my front because it was a persistent pain, and then I expected to see a bruise so when I didn\u2019t, I just mentioned it to my husband.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt didn\u2019t hurt unless I put pressure on it, then it progressed to if someone hugged me, I\u2019d feel it.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen I realised I had a similar pain in my arm, in the inside of my elbow, so I thought it was carrying my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

In January 2022, Vicki went to her GP as the pain had not gone away and she had also noticed some \u201ctoughness\u201d on the skin on her breast.<\/p>\n

At the appointment, her GP examined her and referred her to a one-stop breast cancer clinic, where she had an assessment with a specialist breast consultant, an ultrasound scan and a mammogram.<\/p>\n

She also had a biopsy, during which a radiologist took a small sample of breast tissue.<\/p>\n

The same day, she was told \u201csomething had come up\u201d on her scan and \u201cit could be nothing but could be nasty\u201d, and that she would receive her results as soon as possible.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cThe next thing I remember is being in my car and crying,\u201d Vicki added.<\/p>\n

She was then sent a letter to attend Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, where she and her husband were told in February 2022 that she had lobular breast cancer and needed an MRI scan to understand the full picture.<\/p>\n

Vicki said her first thought was about her children, and she feared she would not be around to see them grow up.<\/p>\n

She told close friends and family the news, which she found \u201cvery hard\u201d, as she did not yet have \u201call the answers to their questions\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

The following month, her MRI scan revealed a tumour measuring 10cm by 4cm by 6cm, as well as \u201ctwo suspicious\u201d lymph nodes in her armpit.<\/p>\n

She then had a full-body CT scan to check whether the cancer had spread.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey then started talking about my lifespan if it had spread and it was so scary, it was a very dark time,\u201d Vicki explained.<\/p>\n

Six weeks later, she was in a \u201cbad place mentally\u201d while waiting for the results, but the scan showed the cancer had not spread and the rest of her body was clear.<\/p>\n

Vicki said: \u201cI texted my husband, and I met him at the train station, and we were just jumping up and down.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cThey said my breast cancer was typical of a lobular tumour \u2013 they said it was like a spider web, where there\u2019s a mass in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two weeks later, in April 2022, Vicki had a mastectomy, as she \u201cjust wanted the cancer out\u201d, and most of the lymph nodes under her arm were removed.<\/p>\n

She said the operation healed \u201cwell\u201d and about two weeks later she attended her friend\u2019s 40th birthday wearing a prosthetic breast and \u201cdid not feel self-conscious at all\u201d.<\/p>\n

From May to September 2022, she underwent chemotherapy to \u201cmop up any trace of cancer in the body\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

During this time her hair fell out in clumps, so she decided to shave it off.<\/p>\n

In September, 11 days after finishing her final round of chemotherapy, she suffered a heart arrhythmia \u2013 a known side-effect of the treatment \u2013 and collapsed on the school run.<\/p>\n

She was taken back into hospital and it took five days for her heart rhythm to return to normal.<\/p>\n

She described this as a \u201clow point\u201d, as she had been \u201cso happy\u201d to be \u201cdone with chemotherapy\u201d.<\/p>\n

She then went on to have radiotherapy, throughout November.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

In December 2022, she started hormone therapy, which put her into a chemically-induced menopause.<\/p>\n

As a result, she gained weight, experienced mood swings and lost confidence, and stopped attending social and work events.<\/p>\n

She has since changed to a different type of hormone therapy and her side-effects have eased \u2013 she now feels like a \u201cnew person\u201d and is no longer \u201chiding away at home\u201d.<\/p>\n

In November 2023, she also had heart surgery to treat her arrhythmia, which has since stabilised.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

However, in July 2024, her left nipple began to bleed and she noticed some \u201crough patches of skin\u201d on her breast.<\/p>\n

Tests later found abnormal cells but no cancer.<\/p>\n

As a result, she has decided, on the advise of her medical team, to have a mastectomy on her left breast and is currently waiting for her surgery date.<\/p>\n

Looking back on her experiences, she believes they have put life into perspective.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been extra emotional at my children\u2019s assemblies and things like that\u2026my friend who I had chemo with passed away, and she was a mum too,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we had more drugs available, and more treatment, she might have survived longer, and her daughter may have a better memory of her\u2026I just feel really lucky to be where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

To others, she said: \u201cIf anyone suspects anything about their breasts, please get checked and please don\u2019t think you might be too young.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\/<\/p>\n

Breast Cancer Now has kickstarted a five-year research programme into lobular breast cancer, investing \u00a31 million in the first year.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s bringing together experts at its Toby Robins Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, to find better treatments for lobular breast cancer.<\/p>\n

For more information, visit www.breastcancernow.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A mum who felt a sharp pain in her breast during a yoga session was later diagnosed with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":250701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1239,125604,259,5799,103,125605,52288,61,125606,60,72479,99,65387,782,34939,12360,37825,125607,125608,125609,125610],"class_list":["post-250700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-breast-cancer","tag-breast-cancer-now","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-chemotherapy","tag-health","tag-hillingdon-hospital","tag-hormone-therapy","tag-ie","tag-institute-of-cancer-research","tag-ireland","tag-lobular-breast-cancer","tag-london","tag-mastectomy","tag-nhs","tag-pa-exclusive","tag-radiotherapy","tag-real-life","tag-ruislip","tag-toby-robins-research-centre","tag-uxbridge","tag-west-london"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}