Bloody nipple dismissed as hormones – but it was cancer

A 26-year-old woman sought medical help after noticing a bloody discharge on her nipple, but said her doctor told her it was just a “hormonal imbalance.”

And when Courtney Bailey noticed a lump a few days later, the Newastle, England, resident was referred to a breast clinic, where the lump was fired as a blocked milk duct or cyst. “I was constantly told I was too young,” she said, via Kennedy News and Media The Daliy email, sharing that doctors said it was “just hormones” and that she “didn’t meet the criteria.” breast cancer.

Still, as a precaution, Bailey underwent a biopsy – and the results showed she was in the early stages breast cancer.

“We need to change the mentality that you’re too young to have cancer because anyone can have it,” she told the outlet. “I got the feeling that it was nothing.”

“You can’t categorize someone’s health based on his or her age,” she added. “Anyone can get cancer.”

Bailey was diagnosed with ductal carcinoma in situ Mayo Clinic defines this as when “the cancer cells are trapped in a milk duct in the breast.”

However, precancerous cells were found outside Bailey’s milk ducts and elsewhere in her breast, so she opted for a mastectomy. “Originally the plan was to do a lumpectomy and the grade of the cancer would determine if I needed further treatment,” Bailey said. “But after they found more precancerous cells, I told my consultant that it would make more sense to do a mastectomy, and she agreed.”

“It really reassured me because everything has been taken out and I know they haven’t missed anything.”

Calling the mastectomy a “life or death decision,” she said, “If people don’t take you seriously, it adds to the stress. I’m lucky that I actually had symptoms and that it was caught so early.”

“I never thought I’d have one breast at 26, but I’m proof it can happen to anyone.”

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