'i found out i had breast cancer aged 27 thanks to lorraine'

In July 2024, Lorraine Kelly launched a nationwide campaign to raise awareness for breast cancer by urging both men and women to check their chests regularly for symptoms. This was done by

placing Change and Check stickers in changing rooms across the country which showed the signs to look out for. In the UK, breast cancer is the most common cancer, with around 55,000 new

cases diagnosed annually in women while about 400 men are diagnosed each year, according to Cancer Research UK. While 80% of breast cancer cases are in women over the age of 50, this

doesn't mean that it can't affect younger people, too. Alex Reddington, 27, shared that Lorraine's Breast Cancer awareness promotion stickers were plastered around her office.

After seeing them Alex was prompted to check her breasts. Taking to social media, she shared a video recalling how Lorraine's promotion helped her learn of her condition. "So,

this is how I found out I had cancer," she said at the start of her video. "I was in the office a few weeks ago, late February, and the ITV show Lorraine was doing a Breast Cancer

awareness promotion, and they had these signs up in the bathroom, and they were all of how to check your breast. "And I went home that evening and I just checked for lumps, and I found

one," she said. "My lump is, or my tumour is in my lower left breast. And I don't know how to explain the feeling, but it felt as if there was something there. It was an

unfamiliar feeling, it made me a little bit nervous, so I booked a doctor's appointment." She went on to explain that her doctor had felt the lump but then said that she believed

it was 'just a cyst' and nothing to be worried about, but went on refer Alex to see a radiologist to have an ultrasound done. At her appointment, the first doctor she met with also

said she didn't believe it was a tumour, but they went on with the ultrasound anyway. "When the woman was doing the ultrasound, a lovely Parisian lady, that was when the tone

shifted, and she was looking at it a little bit too intensely," Alex said. "She then said we're gonna get you in for a mammogram. I had three separate mammograms done."

After the mammograms, she went back to the waiting room before she got called back in. "They called me back in and they said 'okay, we were seeing something. We're gonna do

some biopsies'. So they took two biopsies on the tumour itself and one in my lymph nodes," Alex recalled, explaining that she had five swollen lymph nodes and that one of them

looked 'concerning'. Tests made Alex's first doctor change her mind "And she said 'I think we're looking at a breast cancer'," Alex said. "Her

tone had completely shifted from the first time I saw her. And, yeah, she said it's breast cancer." However, they couldn't confirm this until they got the results of the

biopsies. Having been told it could take up to two weeks to get the results back, she got an email after a week saying she had an appointment to meet with a doctor. Her dad flew over from

the United States to be with Alex at her appointment in London, where her doctor confirmed that she had breast cancer. "[The doctor] wasted no time. He said 'you have breast

cancer, it's in your lymph node, time to start treatment'," Alex said, saying she was relieved to finally know. "My dad broke down in tears, as he does, I am daddy's

little girl." They then were asked to meet with a nurse in a family council room, where the nurse proceeded to go through everything that would happen from that point going forwards.

As of time of writing, Alex has started chemotherapy, and is also due to have a mastectomy while also having her lymph nodes removed.