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Mother of Four Battles Aggressive Breast Cancer After Delayed Diagnosis
8 Aug
Summary
- 41-year-old mother's cancer symptoms dismissed for over a year
- Diagnosed with aggressive HER2-positive breast cancer in 2025
- Calls for lowering age for routine breast cancer screenings
In 2025, 41-year-old Andrea Henderson from Northumberland, UK, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer after her symptoms were dismissed for over a year. Henderson first visited her doctor in 2024 complaining of chest pain and extreme fatigue, but was told it was likely nothing to worry about.
It wasn't until Henderson noticed her nipple bleeding that doctors took her concerns seriously and discovered a small lump. Scans revealed a 4.9cm tumor, and Henderson was diagnosed with HER2-positive breast cancer, an aggressive form of the disease.
Henderson has now undergone a mastectomy and will soon begin eight rounds of chemotherapy, followed by 10 years of hormone therapy. She is sharing her story to urge younger women to regularly check their breasts and advocate for earlier cancer screenings, as she believes her prognosis would have been better if the cancer had been caught sooner.
"Cancer really strips you back to the bare minimum, and I think it's making me a lot stronger than I already was," Henderson said. She and her family have launched a fundraiser to help her focus on her treatment.
