A mother-of-two was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer after feeling a sharp pain in her breast during a hot yoga session.
Vicki Poole, 45, attended her usual yoga class in December 2021 and, after visiting her GP and having tests, she received her diagnosis in February 2022.
Lobular breast cancer is a type of cancer that affects the cells of the lobules, milk-producing glands, of the breast, according to Breast Cancer Now.
Scans revealed a 10cm by 4cm by 6cm tumour as well as “two suspicious” lymph nodes in her armpit, but thankfully the cancer had not spread to anywhere else in her body.
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.
After more radiotherapy, hormone therapy and heart surgery, in July 2024, her left nipple bled and she noticed some “rough patches of skin” which turned out to be a sign of abnormal cells.
As a result, she has decided to have a mastectomy on her left breast and is currently waiting for her surgery date.
Vicki, who lives with her husband, Martyn, 47, and their two children in Ruislip, west London, said: “I just remember, when I got diagnosed, saying, ‘Oh my God, my children are so young’.
“I just thought ‘Am I going to die and will my children remember me?’”
Back in December 2021, Vicki was in a hot yoga class when she felt a sharp pain at the bottom of her right breast.
“I thought at the time it was related to the movement – I thought maybe I was doing the move wrong,” Vicki recalled.
“I 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’t, I just mentioned it to my husband.
“It didn’t hurt unless I put pressure on it, then it progressed to if someone hugged me, I’d feel it.
“Then I realised I had a similar pain in my arm, in the inside of my elbow, so I thought it was carrying my daughter.”
In January 2022, Vicki went to her GP as the pain had not gone away and she had also noticed some “toughness” on the skin on her breast.
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.
She also had a biopsy, during which a radiologist took a small sample of breast tissue.
The same day, she was told “something had come up” on her scan and “it could be nothing but could be nasty”, and that she would receive her results as soon as possible.
“The next thing I remember is being in my car and crying,” Vicki added.
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.
Vicki said her first thought was about her children, and she feared she would not be around to see them grow up.
She told close friends and family the news, which she found “very hard”, as she did not yet have “all the answers to their questions”.
The following month, her MRI scan revealed a tumour measuring 10cm by 4cm by 6cm, as well as “two suspicious” lymph nodes in her armpit.
She then had a full-body CT scan to check whether the cancer had spread.
“They then started talking about my lifespan if it had spread and it was so scary, it was a very dark time,” Vicki explained.
Six weeks later, she was in a “bad place mentally” while waiting for the results, but the scan showed the cancer had not spread and the rest of her body was clear.
Vicki said: “I texted my husband, and I met him at the train station, and we were just jumping up and down.
“They said my breast cancer was typical of a lobular tumour – they said it was like a spider web, where there’s a mass in the middle.”
Two weeks later, in April 2022, Vicki had a mastectomy, as she “just wanted the cancer out”, and most of the lymph nodes under her arm were removed.
She said the operation healed “well” and about two weeks later she attended her friend’s 40th birthday wearing a prosthetic breast and “did not feel self-conscious at all”.
From May to September 2022, she underwent chemotherapy to “mop up any trace of cancer in the body”.
During this time her hair fell out in clumps, so she decided to shave it off.
In September, 11 days after finishing her final round of chemotherapy, she suffered a heart arrhythmia – a known side-effect of the treatment – and collapsed on the school run.
She was taken back into hospital and it took five days for her heart rhythm to return to normal.
She described this as a “low point”, as she had been “so happy” to be “done with chemotherapy”.
She then went on to have radiotherapy throughout November.
Main symptoms of breast cancer in women
NHS
Symptoms of breast cancer in women may include:
- a lump, or swelling in your breast, chest or armpit
- a change in the skin of your breast, such as dimpling (may look like orange peel) or redness (may be harder to see on black or brown skin)
- a change in size or shape of 1 or both breasts
- nipple discharge (if you are not pregnant or breastfeeding), which may have blood in it
- a change in the shape or look of your nipple, such as it turning inwards (inverted nipple) or a rash on it (may look like eczema)
- pain in your breast or armpit which does not go away – breast pain that comes and goes is usually not a symptom of breast cancer
In December 2022, she started hormone therapy, which put her into a chemically-induced menopause.
As a result, she gained weight, experienced mood swings and lost confidence, and stopped attending social and work events.
She has since changed to a different type of hormone therapy and her side-effects have eased – she now feels like a “new person” and is no longer “hiding away at home”.
In November 2023, she also had heart surgery to treat her arrhythmia, which has since stabilised.
However, in July 2024, her left nipple began to bleed and she noticed some “rough patches of skin” on her breast.
Tests later found abnormal cells but no cancer.
As a result, she has decided, on the advice of her medical team, to have a mastectomy on her left breast and is currently waiting for her surgery date.
Looking back on her experiences, she believes they have put life into perspective.
“I’ve been extra emotional at my children’s assemblies and things like that…my friend who I had chemo with passed away, and she was a mum too,” she added.
“If we had more drugs available and more treatment, she might have survived longer, and her daughter may have a better memory of her…I just feel really lucky to be where I am today.”
To others, she said: “If anyone suspects anything about their breasts, please get checked and please don’t think you might be too young.”
Breast Cancer Now has kick-started a five-year research programme into lobular breast cancer, investing £1 million in the first year.
It’s bringing together experts at its Toby Robins Research Centre at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, to find better treatments for lobular breast cancer.
For more information, visit www.breastcancernow.org.
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