Woman, 29, told she was 'too young for cancer' opens up about how life 'completely shifted' when she was diagnosed

Courtney thought the lump in her breast was just a cyst. It came and went, so she assumed it was just hormones. Then, one day, the lump didn’t disappear.

"At first it seemed to fluctuate around my cycle, which made it easier to rationalize, but eventually it became visibly larger over time," 29-year-old Courtney, who was diagnosed in January, tells UNILAD. She asked that her last name not be used to protect her and her family's privacy.

Courtney was also feeling tired but chalked that up to hormonal changes and burnout — until the feeling and the lump became 'impossible to ignore'. So she booked in with her GP.

"The first time I brought it up to my doctor, I was told it didn’t seem overly concerning and that an ultrasound would just be done to be safe," she says.

Then Courtney got the news that nobody wants to hear: she had breast cancer.

In the US, the median age that someone gets this type of cancer is around 62 years old, according to according to the American Cancer Society, making Courtney well outside the typical age bracket.

Worryingly, she's in growing company. More younger people than ever are developing cancer. New research has found that there are 11 kinds of cancer that are becoming more prevalent in younger adults in their 20s, 30s, and 40s, and breast cancer is one of them.

'My life completely shifted into survival mode'

Courtney said she feels like younger people's health concerns are often dismissed as nothing serious because of their age. "I’ve definitely heard the phrase 'you’re too young' throughout this process," she says, "but honestly, you don’t even need someone to say it out loud to feel it."

And even though her doctors sent her for further investigation, it still took half a year for testing before she was diagnosed. "Between insurance changes, scheduling issues, and availability, it took around six months before I actually got imaging done," Courtney tells us, although things moved quickly when she received her diagnosis.

"I went from imaging to biopsy to treatment discussions almost immediately, and honestly I don’t think I had much time to emotionally process what was happening before my life completely shifted into survival mode."

Waiting times for imagery varies from state to state. Routine MRI and CT scans often see delays of one to four weeks, but typically urgent cancer cases are prioritized.

"The experience can be incredibly isolating," she adds. "You walk into oncology appointments and look around the waiting room and realize very quickly that almost nobody there is your age. Nobody has to explain it for you to understand that you’re part of a much smaller group experiencing this young."

'I wish I'd advocated for myself more aggressively'

Courtney was undergoing treatment for her breast cancer, having already been through six rounds of chemotherapy as of May, and had two more rounds to go.

"Emotionally, that’s been really difficult for me," Courtney continues. "I think what frustrates me most is that being young made it easier for both myself and others to assume what I was experiencing probably wasn’t serious."

"I genuinely believed it was likely a cyst or something harmless because that’s what made the most sense at the time and because I was reassured early on. Looking back, of course there’s a part of me that wishes I had pushed harder or advocated for myself more aggressively, but hindsight feels very different when you’re living through something in real time."

"After chemotherapy, I’ll most likely be having a lumpectomy followed by radiation, and then hormone therapy for the next five years since my cancer is hormone-positive," she adds.

"In a lot of ways, I’ve already come really far, but there’s still a long road ahead of me physically and emotionally."

In an update shared on her TikTok page (@withcandor) on June 28, Courtney said that she's 'responded fully to chemo' and that an MRI showed that her lymph nodes were 'normal and healthy'.

She also told her followers that she was undergoing her lumpectomy on July 16, but recently revealed that she'd canceled it because she wanted a different surgeon to do the procedure and had her surgery on July 30 instead.

Her treatment is now continuing and she'll soon begin radiotherapy and her five-year stint of hormone therapy.

'I think younger people deserve to be heard'

As it stands, it remains unclear why Courtney developed breast cancer. She was tested for genetic mutations, including BRCA (a type of gene some people inherit that makes them substantially more at risk of developing certain cancers), and the tests came back negative.

With her diagnosis in mind, Courtney wants to make something clear: cancer doesn't discriminate depending on your age.

"I think younger people deserve to feel heard when something feels wrong in their body, even if statistically they’re considered 'low risk'," she tells UNILAD.

"Cancer doesn’t wait for your birthday to manifest, and I think symptoms should be taken seriously regardless of age."

Gen C is weekly series focusing on young adults with cancer sharing their experiences.

If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.