A young woman has been left devastated to discover her mum has breast cancer – just a WEEK after she successfully completed treatment for the same disease.
Amberley Kent, 24, experienced an “awful” past year after undergoing chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy to treat her cancer.
But after completing her treatment, she said she “was quickly brought back to square one” after finding out her mum Cathy had been hit with the disease.
Amberley was diagnosed June last year with invasive ductal breast cancer, also known as ‘no special type’ because the cells cannot be identified as a specific type.
After receiving intense treatment she was told on March 1 that there was no sign of the disease – but mum Cathy Kent was diagnosed the following week.
Mum-of-three Cathy, 52, found she had invasive lobular carcinoma which is a type of breast cancer that begins in the milk-producing glands.
Amberley, who was aged 23 at the time of her diagnoses, said: “It was horrible, because just as we were celebrating my tests results we were quickly brought back to square one again.
“When my mum got her tests results it was the worst news to hear.
“Our happiness was short lived.
“I wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy, let alone my mum.
“And I think it is even worse for her because she has seen everything first hand with me, she knows what she is about to go through.
“It just brings you back down to earth because I know the awful journey she is about to experience.”
Amberley said that doctors told her and mum that this situation is rare to have happened to both of them considering there are no evidence that their cancers are hereditary.
She describe it as the “unluck” of the draw as it “is something we all just have to go through.”
Amberley, who works in marketing, said she didn’t have any major warning signs to make her think she had breast cancer.
She said she was constantly ill with cold and flu symptoms but never thought anything of it.
But when she was having a shower she found a lump in her breast, she thought it was just tissue but asked her boyfriend of six months at the time to get a second opinion.
Amberley said: “He said I should just go and get a check up anyway.
“It was hard back then because we were only together for a short amount of time and at that point and I didn’t want to seem like I had a default.”
But Amberley said her boyfriend, Dan, was her rock and saw her through the worst of times.
She said: “It was hard because I was not expecting anything.
“And the doctors kept saying to me it is extremely unlikely because of my age.
“So it was a real shock to the system because I had kind of convinced myself that it was nothing.”
Amberley said she eventually had to stop working as she experienced every side effect that is listed for her treatment including – sore mouth, aching body and fatigue.
She said: “You never know how bad it is going to be until it hits you.
“I really did try and keep going but some days I couldn’t move.
“I didn’t want to stop working or anything, I just wanted to keep going but until you go through, you have no idea what it is going to feel like and how it will bring you down.”
Mum Cathy, 52, who looked after her daughter throughout the whole treatment is now currently on her second treatment of chemotherapy.
Amberley, of Peterborough, said: “She’s finding it quite tough – the smallest things make you tired.
“She finds it hard because even when she just wants to make herself a cup of tea she can find it hard to get off the sofa.
“I’m trying to help mum through it, but it’s just brutal.
“It is horrible to witness, when I was with her getting the results I just knew it was bad as soon as she walked in from getting her results.
“I just saw the look on her face and just knew.”
Amberley said the past year has been a roller coaster of emotions with a trail of bad luck following them.
She added: “But we are a positive family, it is stressful but we can get through it.”
Each year more than 2 million women have breast cancer screening in the UK.
The NHS Breast Screening Programme invites all women aged between 50 and 70, who are registered with a GP, for screening every three years.
Women should receive letters from their GPs telling them to attend an X-ray test called a mammogram, in a programme run by Public Health England.
According to Cancer Research UK around 360,000 people have been affected by cancer in the UK with around a 50 per cent survival rate.
They also said around 38 per cent of cases could have been prevented.
Amberley has decided to start raising money for research charity Breast Cancer Now.
She has decided to hold a charity ball on Saturday, June 16 in Holiday Inn West, Thorpe Road, Peterborough.
Tickets are £50 per person and tables of 10 can be booked for £500.
Amberley added: “I want to raise as much money as possible to help women out there.
“We will find a cause.”
