A dog’s clumsy bump turned out to be a life-saving warning for Lesley Goodburn.
Goodburn, from Kidsgrove, Staffordshire, said her dog Gertie helped lead to her breast cancer diagnosis after bashing into her chest two years ago.
The impact led Goodburn to notice an unusual ridge in her breast, a symptom she later learned was linked to lobular breast cancer. Researchers say the disease accounts for about 15 percent of breast cancer diagnoses.
Now free of cancer, Goodburn said she wanted to raise awareness of the condition because it often does not present as a lump.
“I’d never even heard of it,” she told BBC Radio Stoke.
“The surprise was that it wasn’t a lump, it was nothing that I’d felt. If the dog hadn’t bashed my chest, maybe no-one would ever have known it was there.
“Lobular breast cancer is in the lobules, which is the bit that produces the milk. Quite often it doesn’t form a lump, often it’s a ridge.”
Goodburn said symptoms can include itching, tingling, pulling sensations, dimpling or changes to the skin rather than a distinct lump.
“It isn’t always picked up on mammograms,” she said. “People can go and have a mammogram, get the all clear and then, a few months later, get diagnosed with lobular breast cancer.”
Goodburn had chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy after her diagnosis before doctors told her she was in remission.
She said Gertie’s role in that diagnosis was clear.
“Without a shadow of a doubt, Gertie saved my life,” she said.
“Without that bash, I would never have realised there was a ridge there. I would never have gone to the doctors.”
According to Lobular Breast Cancer UK, about 8,400 people are diagnosed with the condition each year.
A spokesperson for the charity said lobular breast cancer is much harder to see on imaging tests such as mammograms because it grows in straight lines or single cells.
The spokesperson added there are no specific treatments for lobular breast cancer, but that does not mean treatments are not effective and do not work.
Goodburn is already well known for fundraising after the death of her husband, Seth, from pancreatic cancer in 2014, 33 days after he was diagnosed.
Over the past 12 years, she has travelled to places including the Great Wall of China, Chile and the South Pole while raising awareness and tens of thousands of pounds for charity, including Pancreatic Cancer UK.
She has now joined Lobular Breast Cancer UK to support its call for people to seek medical advice if something does not feel right.
“If you feel like something’s wrong, go and get it checked out,” she said. “Be brave. It might make the difference between being here in five years’ time and not.”
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