Sam Mercer, 51, was in a “wonderful” place in her life and had recently got married when she began to feel unwell, but doctors ignored some key warning signs
A woman has shared the unusual warning sign she spotted that was ignored by doctors before a devastating breast cancer diagnosis.
Sam Mercer, 51, was recently married when she noticed she was becoming more tired than usual. Doctors put it down to fluctuating hormone levels due to perimenopause. Yet, a peculiar transformation of her left breast soon raised her concerns.
Sharing her ordeal with Surrey Live, she explained: “It wasn’t the sort of pea-sized lump that most had talked about so I put it down to hormone changes and hoped it would settle.
“Mine was more, I don’t know how to put it, it felt like a piece of gristle? Not something you ever really read about.
“When I was talking to the doctors they kept saying it is hormonal and don’t worry about it but of course it was getting bigger and bigger and it was getting long. It was like a little sausage, if I can put it any better, that is exactly what it was like.
“So what I always say to people is, you are not specifically looking for a pea-sized lump, it is any change in your breast or chest that doesn’t feel normal, anything that you can feel under the palm of your hand.”
Hailing from Essex but now calling Northern Ireland home, Sam’s subsequent ultrasound and biopsy confirmed her fears and she was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer. Struck by the devastating revelation, she confessed: “You never think it will be you.”
Her final diagnosis was Grade 3 HER2-positive breast cancer, which had metastasised to her lymph nodes and clavicle area. Her oncologist warned her that the treatment would be “hardcore”, but she confessed that nothing could have braced her for the harsh reality of chemotherapy, which she described as “brutal on every level”.
Six months later, Sam underwent a partial mastectomy and full lymph node removal, followed by 18 rounds of radiotherapy, completed in November 2023. This was succeeded by 21 rounds of auto immune injections, with her final treatment taking place in May 2024.
Now 15 months into remission and feeling “wonderful”, Sam admitted: “It would be a lie to say I have come through this experience unscathed, I bare the mental and physical scars of cancer.
“But I am now moving forward from this journey with a fresh mindset.” Before her battle with cancer, Sam ran her own business designing and making 50s inspired handbags and accessories, but she’s now shifting gears to become an official wedding celebrant.
When asked why she decided to share her story, she said: “My mission moving forward after this experience has been to support and encourage people to be vigilant around checking and being aware of what is happening with their body.
“If something doesn’t feel right to you, act immediately, and seek further advice. With regular checking you get to know how your breast and the area looks and what feels normal to you.
“My cancer had progressed much further, hence the harsh chemo, but detected early and the treatment is much less invasive.”
The NHS lists general symptoms of breast cancer as fatigue, loss of appetite or weight, feeling unwell without a clear cause, nausea, and sleep disturbances.
However, the primary symptoms include: a lump or swelling in your breast, chest or armpit; changes in the skin of your breast such as dimpling (resembling orange peel) or redness (which may be harder to see on black or brown skin); changes in the size or shape of one or both breasts; nipple discharge (if you’re not pregnant or breastfeeding), which may contain blood; changes in the appearance of your nipple, such as inversion or a rash that resembles eczema; and persistent pain in your breast or armpit – intermittent breast pain is usually not a symptom of breast cancer.
