'Fit and healthy' woman, 43, given two years to live issues stark warning to others
A 43-year-old woman who considered herself 'fit and healthy' before she was given roughly two years to live has issued a warning to others after receiving her diagnosis.
Emma Johnson, from Newcastle, UK, was left completely stunned when she received the news in January that she had stage-four cancer, despite feeling completely 'normal'.
The hairdresser, who is a stepmom to two boys, insisted she doesn't 'feel sick at all', which makes it that much harder to comprehend the fact that doctors have told her she has 'probably got about two years to live', even after undergoing treatment.
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The 43-year-old noted she had a small lump in her breast in December, but when she got examined she was told it was 'more likely just going to be a funny tissue'.
On the run-up to Christmas, Emma struggled to get in for a mammogram, but since she had booked herself in for one every year since she turned 40, she told FEMAIL she 'didn't really worry'.
It wasn't until she was able to get an ultrasound appointment that she was met with the shocking news that the lump could be cancerous.
She went for a biopsy, and the next day learned she had double-positive breast cancer.
Now, Emma is issuing a warning to other people to be thorough and frequent when checking their breasts.
She told FEMAIL: "Everyone's getting diagnosed so much younger with this so if you feel like you've got something, you've got to push and you've got to get your results, and you've got to be on it and say, 'I'm not waiting a week or two weeks'.
"If I'd have left it or waited until the end of February for my next scan I could have been dead. I honestly didn't think anything of it when I when I felt the lump so people just need to realize that cancer is more common now in younger people. Get the ultrasound, double check... triple check."
Emma was initially told her cancer was stage two, but after an MRI and PET scan, she leaned that likely-cancerous spots had been found on her liver.
A surgeon explained that he wouldn't be able to operate, so Emma was moved to an oncologist.
Now, Emma has explained that medics are not sure 'what path' to take.
"They said there's no surgery, there's no chemo and that I'll be given a hormone injection every 28 days and two pills to take a day. Oh and they added that I've probably got about two years to live on them." she said.
"I'm so fit and healthy so it's weird being told I have cancer. I feel normal, I don't feel sick at all - it's just crazy to hear I have two years left."
In a bid to find a treatment that might work, Emma spoke to women in Australia who have the same cancer and who have reported good results from a clinic in Cancun, Mexico.
She is now raising money to fund the trip, saying: "I don't know if this is 100 percent going to fix me but somewhere in my gut, my heart, I just know that it's the right path."
You can donate to Emma's fundraiser here.
Emily Brown