I'm a mum-of-four and I thought I was just worn down, but it turned out to be something much worse
A busy mum-of-four was told by doctors she was experiencing "mum tiredness" - but discovered she had breast cancer after her nipple started bleeding.
Andrea Henderson, 41, is living with stage one, grade three breast cancer - meaning it was caught early, but is an aggressive form of the disease. For a year prior, she was seeing her GP while suffering from fatigue and a sharp pain, deep in the left side of her chest.
But her mind was put to rest when she was told her symptoms were down to being a "tired" mum. In February 2025, she was shocked to discover her left nipple was bleeding "spontaneously" after getting out of the shower - and saw her GP the same day.
After six mammograms, an MRI and multiple biopsies, Andrea received her diagnosis - and is now facing eight rounds of chemotherapy, 10 years of hormone therapy and an early menopause.
Andrea, a photographer, from Alnwick, Northumberland, said: "As soon as I started bleeding, I thought the worst - you never think it's going to be you. "At the moment, my doctors think they've caught all the cancer because it wasn't in my lymph nodes - but I'm now having to do preventative chemo and hormone therapy.
"I just want to raise awareness of the fact that younger women are suffering from cancer undetected - it's not being picked up by mammograms because of the early stage of some tumours."
Before February 2025 Andrea says she was going "back-and-forth" to the GP about her fatigue and sporadic chest twinges which were "taking her breath away". She says she was told by her GP each time that her symptoms were a side-effect of "mum tiredness".
But six months ago, after getting out of the shower, Andrea discovered her left nipple was bleeding. “It was a spontaneous bleed - and right away, I called my GP for a same-day appointment," she said. "They were very good after that, I was seen straight away and referred to the cancer clinic."
Andrea's doctor had an initial feel of her left breast, and told her she had a tiny lump underneath her nipple, no bigger than a grain of rice. Two weeks later, Andrea's left breast was biopsied and she underwent six mammograms.
She also had one biopsy to analyse some lumps in her milk duct, which came back non-cancerous. But the tiny lump underneath her nipple - measuring at 1.9mm - was stage one breast cancer, and Andrea's care team removed the entire tumour before performing a biopsy afterwards.
Andrea said: "The consultant had even said to me: 'Oh, I don't think this looks like cancer, I've seen it in lots of women.' I got told in March, though, that it was stage one, grade three - which meant it was small but aggressive."
After learning she was living with an aggressive form of cancer, Andrea had an MRI on her entire chest and lymph nodes. She was "terrified" when doctors found a 4.9cm tumour in her chest - which contained some aggressive cells.
This meant she would need her entire left breast removed, and the mastectomy, alongside a reconstructive surgery, were scheduled for April 16th and June 4th, respectively. "Knowing how much life was going to change - I felt horrible," Andrea said.
"Especially losing a breast - you have to really find out that beauty is soul-deep, nothing to do with how you look. Cancer strips you back to the bare minimum, and I think it's making me a lot stronger than I already was."
Andrea says the type of cancer she's living with, HER-2 positive breast cancer, is fast-growing because it "feeds on oestrogen". She was told she'd need 10 years of hormone therapy to consolidate her treatment, which would send her into an early menopause.
On Thursday [August 7], Andrea will begin eight rounds of chemotherapy, taking her through to December. She wants pre-menopausal women to regularly check their breasts and lymph nodes - because compulsory screenings aren't available until women reach 50 to 53.
"Younger women always have a worse prognosis because we have a lot more oestrogen pre-menopause," she said. “We need to start having routine mammograms for younger women, too, because a lot of things can get missed.
"While checking your breasts, it's so important not to miss your nipples out - just because they're naturally bumpier, doesn't mean they're immune. Check under your arms - look out for any dimpling or swelling, as well as inverting in the nipple and general changes in the breast."
Andrea’s GoFundMe, to help her focus on healing, can be found here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-andrea-focus-on-healing-and-her-family