By Julia Llewellyn Smith
Relieved: Emma Crosby counts herself one of the lucky ones
GMTV presenter Emma Crosby was on a hen weekend and queuing with her girlfriends for eclairs at the famous Bettys tea room in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, when her mobile rang. She saw the Caller ID and her heart beat faster. She answered, mouth dry.
'Emma? It's the Cromwell Hospital,' the voice said. 'I'm calling about your breast lump. It's good news. It's not malignant and not dangerous.' Emma burst into floods of tears.
'The bride-to-be had just popped out and when she came back she found me sobbing my heart out,' Emma recalls, dabbing her eyes at the memory. 'She said, "What's wrong? I've only been gone ten minutes." '
Emma had told none of her friends that she'd been waiting for the results of an investigation into a small lump in her left breast. Like an estimated one in five of all women, Emma learned to her relief that she did not have the cancer she so feared but was suffering from benign breast disease, the term used to cover a variety of breast lumps, pains and nipple discharges that are not cancerous and in most cases not harmful at all.
Yet discovering any abnormality in the breast still means enduring sometimes weeks of mental torment before a diagnosis is reached. Many benign lumps still need to be removed, with the discomfort and risk related to any surgery.
It was two years ago when Emma, then 29, noticed the lump one evening during a visit to a friend. 'I noticed that my left breast was very tender,' she recalls.
'It often is before a period, but this was more than usual. Brushing past it with my hand, it hurt and then I thought, "Oh God, I can feel something." It was pea-like, hard and very mobile. I couldn't stop thinking, "Is this serious?'''
The next day Emma, who was then working as a presenter at Sky News, made an appointment to see her GP. She agreed there was a lump and referred Emma to a breast clinic. 'She was very encouraging and said she had only once seen a woman of my age with breast cancer and the lump had felt very different to mine - it was a rough lump.'
Despite the reassurances, Emma was apprehensive. She was even more worried after her consultation a fortnight later at West London's private Bupa Cromwell Hospital, paid for by her employer's health scheme, where she saw consultant Jacqueline Lewis.
'The GP had been so comforting but Mrs Lewis was quite cool, which I realise was the right manner since she must see so many women who are going to hear bad news.'
Mrs Lewis said her colleagues would perform a core biopsy, involving removing a tiny piece of tissue from the core of the lump to test it for cancerous cells
On the GMTV sofa: Emma Crosby with her co-presenter Andrew Castle
Emma was still optimistic all would be well, but when she returned a week later for the biopsy she was shaken. 'Being in a hospital environment really brought home the potential seriousness. Plus I was on my own which was a bit stupid,' she says.
The radiologist reassured her that biopsies were routine procedures. 'That just made me feel even more pathetic. My mum's been in and out of hospital more times with hip problems than I've had hot dinners and she never complains. But I'm a wimp.'
Her breast was numbed with a local anaesthetic and the radiologist inserted a needle into it. Ultrasound guided him to locate the lump's centre, as it was vital that tissue removed came from there and not the surrounding breast area
'I could see a solid, round lump on the monitor,' Emma says. 'The needle went in and out trying to pinpoint it, which is tricky as it moved around. It made a horrible clunk-clunk sound like a stapling machine. I couldn't look down but I could sense blood trickling down my body, which wasn't a pleasant experience.'
The procedure took only ten minutes, and two days later Emma left for the hen weekend. 'It was my friend's weekend and the last thing I wanted was her to see me upset,' she says. But when Mrs Lewis made the good-news call that afternoon, Emma couldn't conceal her delight.
Mrs Lewis later explained that Emma had a fibroadenoma in her breast, a tumour that affects ten per cent of women at some point and is especially common in women under 30.
Checks: Benign breast disease or fibroadenomas affect ten per cent of women and is more common in younger women (posed by model)
Sometimes known as breast mice because they dart around under the skin, fibroadenomas are the result of excessive fibres in the breast and are thought to be caused by an excess of the female hormone oestrogen.
Doctors usually recommend the removal of large fibroadenomas, which can be unsightly or painful. They also tend to remove them in women aged over 40, because of a small chance of having confused them with a phyllodes tumour, a very rare solid mass of the breast, which, while also usually benign, can be cancerous.
As Emma was in her 20s and the lump was small, the choice was hers. Even though her mother Sue, 62, her best friend and her best friend's mother had all had benign lumps removed from their breasts, Emma decided to leave hers alone while having regular scans.
'Mrs Lewis explained that removing it would involve a general anaesthetic and leave scar tissue near the milk ducts which could potentially affect breast-feeding in the future.'
A year passed, Emma began working for GMTV, but the lump remained. She returned to her GP and, since she no longer had private healthcare, was referred to Mrs Lewis via the NHS.
The appointment came within a fortnight. 'I was very impressed,' Emma says. 'The only difference between the NHS and private was that I went to a different area of the hospital where the paint wasn't so nice.
'Mrs Lewis was absolutely charming and I spent a good 25 minutes with her, discussing all my fears.'
What visiting the NHS clinic brought home was how lucky she had been compared to many other patients. 'I was in a queue with women of all sorts of ages, from all walks of life, some of them quite poorly and some of them going to hear really bad news. It made me feel a bit of a fraud.'
Mrs Lewis confirmed that the fibroadenoma was the same size as before. Again, Emma decided she would rather avoid surgery. She was told to take evening primrose oil to ease breast discomfort and to regularly examine her breasts.
'In the past at smear tests the nurse has asked me, "Are you breast aware?" and I've always said yes but in truth not really,' she says shamefaced. 'Mrs Lewis explained that my breasts may feel quite lumpy but that is "normal for me". That's what's important - to know what's normal for you and if you notice a change to see a GP about it.'
Cheers: Emma with fellow GMTV presenter Kate Garraway, now has regular breast checks
Consultant breast surgeon Simon Marsh, of the London Breast Clinic in Harley Street, says he now sees a far greater number of patients with benign breast disease (he prefers the less menacing term 'benign breast conditions') than when he started his career.
'In the Nineties, one in eight patients referred to us by a doctor turned out to have cancer, but now there are so many more referrals that it's only one in 40 who turn out to have cancer.
'Cynics might say it's because GPs are more concerned about being sued for negligence but more than that, women are more aware about breast cancer than they used to be.'
The most common lumps Mr Marsh sees are simply normal breast changes. 'From the mid-30s, breast tissue goes a bit knobbly, often in the upper outer parts of the breast towards your shoulder. It's a real change but it is normal.
'I use the analogy of a packet of frozen peas: when you take peas out of the freezer, some will be stuck together and that is what happens with breast tissue.'
He also frequently sees cysts, especially in women around menopausal age. These are made of liquid and not breast tissue and the fluid from them can be drained by a needle.
Only two per cent point to an underlying cancer. Yet the fact most lumps are benign belies the harsh truth that breast cancer rates are rising. Just a decade ago a woman's lifetime risk of developing breast cancer was one in 12; today it is one in nine.
Cancer experts are still unsure as to what the reason for the increase might be, but suspect it is related to growing levels of obesity in women of menopausal age, causing oestrogen to flood the body which can trigger cancerous cells.
More heartening is the news that while once half of women diagnosed with breast cancer died, now the rate is one in three. 'The earlier cancer is detected the better, so you should never be afraid of wasting doctors' time about any lump or abnormality,' Mr Marsh says.
'I like telling people good news. I'd far rather say "Nothing is wrong" than tell someone, "We could have cured this but we left it too late."'
To commemorate a friend of her mother who recently died of the disease and to raise money for breast-cancer charities, on May 15 Emma is joining 15,000 others for the 2010 MoonWalk in London. This involves power-walking the marathon (26.2 miles) overnight wearing a decorated bra.
'A friend and I will leave Hyde Park at 10pm. We aim to take about seven hours and at the end I think there'll be a big champagne breakfast.'
To train, as often as possible Emma has been walking the five miles from GMTV's studios in Central London to her home in West London. 'I wear old trainers and a gym kit and look a right mess,' she says. 'It's hard to exercise when you've been up since 4am but it really helps me feel better and sleep better.
'My colleagues put me to shame anyway. Ben [Shephard] is always doing marathons and so is Andrew [Castle], and Lorraine [Kelly] is training for one.'
Emma knows that the distress she suffered is nothing compared to what many women go through. But she has learned some valuable lessons from her experience.
'Get to know your body. I thought I was too young for a problem, but it could have been different. I could have been one of the unlucky ones.'
source: dailymail
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