Woman, 23, undergoes life-changing surgery after being told she was 'too young to have cancer'

A woman claims she may not have had to undergo life-changing surgery if doctors had not dismissed her as being 'too young to have cancer.'

Alicia Mcgoogan was 23 when she started feeling pain in her and discomfort in her right breast in December 2021. At first, she put it down to it being her time of the month.

But then the recruiter, from Manchester, noticed her nipple had started leaking a yellow-sticky discharge. She booked in with her GP and was transferred to a breast clinic at Burnley General Teaching Hospital.

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A blockage in her milk duct was identified so she had a microdochectomy to remove the duct in January 2022, and discovered it was a benign tumour.

After the procedure, Alicia expected to get the all-clear. But afterwards, she claims she mentioned to a nurse that she'd felt a lump on her breast - but she claims they didn't examine it and said it was scar tissue from the surgery.

As the lump got bigger, Alicia claims she pushed for further scans, and after a mammogram and biopsy, was eventually diagnosed with stage two breast cancer on May 18th last year.

The cancer had spread from her nipple to her surrounding breast tissue and chest wall, so she needed to undergo a full mastectomy of her right breast.

She then had IVF treatment followed by six cycles of chemotherapy before she started proton beam therapy this month. After her recovery, she will have surgery to reconstruct her breast.

Despite enduring such a "whirlwind" experience, Alicia who's now 24, said that staying positive has been paramount and she's looking forward to eventually returning to normal life.

She is now keen to raise awareness of the importance of anyone with