Brave Derbyshire woman wants to save lives by inspiring others to spot potential cancer symptoms early

Terina Jordan, aged 30, is currently undergoing treatment after discovering cysts on one of her breasts.

She initially ignored them and thought they would be nothing serious – but when she did go to the doctors, she was told it was stage four breast cancer.

Far from being sad about it, however, Terina is now sharing her story.

And she hopes it will inspire other women to check their breasts regularly – as the NHS and cancer charities advise – in the hope of encouraging more women to spot when something feels wrong more quickly and therefore save more lives.

Terina said: “I’ve got hormonal breast cancer, so I’m currently having hormonal treatment first and then it may move on to chemotherapy down the line, which will hopefully not make me so poorly as normal chemotherapy would and I’d have less side effects.

“I’ve decided to share my story, because I had a lot of symptoms that I didn’t know were related to breast cancer, so I left it for about three months and thought it was nothing.

“Then I started noticing my breast was getting bigger and redder and realised something was wrong.

“It’s weird, but I’ve not cried, because I’m just trying to stay positive and holding on to the hope that with all these new treatments coming out all the time, as soon as one stops working, there will be a new one that’s come along and I can go on to that and have longer.

“I’ve had people coming to me saying they’d found a lump on their boob, or a red spot and what should they do?

“I always say to them, that if they’re in any doubt, go to the doctors and in fact there was one woman who went and the doctor thought it could be breast cancer and sent her for an urgent referal.

“Luckily, it wasn’t, but it’s that sort of thing that sharing my story like this is all about – finding and getting those symptoms checked out earlier could save your life.

"I don’t want anyone to go through what I’m going through so I want to encourage women everywhere to check their breasts regularly, even young women who normally probably don’t do it so much, so they can spot the signs sooner.”

Terina’s partner Ash and two children, nine-year-old Alfie and four-year-old Willow, have found her diagnosis difficult to cope with, but she is determined to remain positive for them.

Jackie Simpson, a friend of Terina’s, has now set up a JustGiving page to raise £1,000 for her and her family.

Posting on the page, Jackie said: “As you can see, she is an inspiration to many, so please donate so Terina and her family can make some amazing memories together.”

To donate to the appeal, see justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jackie-simpson-1