Woman discovered she'd had cancer for 10 years after doctor said lump was 'probably benign'

A woman repeatedly reassured about breast lumps was diagnosed with cancer after falling ill following one beer.

Kelly Gunn noticed an almond-shaped lump in her left breast in 2016, when she was told it was hormonal and linked to dense breast tissue.

Four years later, a mammogram picked up a lump in her right breast — one of breast cancer’s early signs. A biopsy found it was benign, and Gunn continued attending annual mammograms.

She received further reassurance after an ultrasound in April 2024, when the growth was described as ‘probably benign’.

However, weeks later, Gunn began vomiting after drinking a single beer while living off-grid in Belize. Concerned by the sudden reaction, she returned to Virginia Beach for another ultrasound and an MRI.

Further tests confirmed stage 1 breast cancer, and after a double mastectomy revealed six or seven tumours in her right breast, a doctor estimated they had been growing for around 10 years.

Vomiting after one beer prompted Kelly to seek further medical tests (SWNS/Kelly Gunn)

Reported by SWNS, Gunn, now 46, said: “The doctor came in the next day after my double mastectomy and said I’d made a very good choice having a mastectomy because if I’d had a lumpectomy they would have had to go back in as my right breast had six or seven tumours.

“He said by the size of them I’d probably had cancer for 10 years.

“So that meant my biopsy was wrong; my ‘probably benign’ was wrong.

“They were big enough and growing that long and there were way more in there than even the imaging could find.”

The cancer had not spread to Gunn’s lymph nodes, while tests on her two largest tumours indicated chemotherapy would not offer enough benefit to outweigh the possible side effects.

Because the cancer was fed by oestrogen and progesterone, she was initially given Zoladex to suppress her ovaries.

After struggling with the medication’s effects, Gunn had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed in September 2025, putting her into medical menopause. She also takes tamoxifen to block oestrogen.

Speaking about the impact, she said: “The bones in my elbows hurt to the lightest touch.

Kelly underwent a double mastectomy after seven tumours were discovered (SWNS/Kelly Gunn)

“The tiredness, it’s not something you sleep off, it’s guttural.

“Women have a hard time enough with hormones but I cannot take HRT, I cannot take testosterone or any sort of relief.

“I kind of have to pull up my big girl pants and suck it up.”

Gunn now undergoes blood tests and oncology check-ups every three months, but said the fear of the disease returning remains.

“Just because it didn’t go to my lymph nodes doesn’t mean I don’t have a sleeper cell somewhere,” she said.

“I am never cancer free, there is no finish line to surviving.

“It haunts you for the rest of your life, it sucks.”

She has since founded Fionix Haus, a community intended to support women after cancer, and is using her experience to urge others to keep seeking answers when something feels wrong with their health.

Gunn said: “With women we have a stigma of ‘oh she’s emotional or hormonal”

“It doesn’t have to be as bad as cancer, if there is something physically wrong it’s worth your piece of mind to get checked out – bang on the right doors and keep on banging.”