Young mother says son ‘spotted cancer’ while being breastfed
A young mother has told how her baby son saved her life after he repeatedly rejected her right breast during breastfeeding - persuading her to go to the doctor for a check-up.
Sarah Boyle, 26, a call centre worker, explained how Teddy, now one, would 'scream' and 'become distressed' when she tried to breastfeed him from her right breast.
Worried, she went to her GP in November 2016 and was referred to hospital where she underwent a scan and a biopsy.
Two weeks later she was diagnosed with grade 2 triple negative breast cancer.
The new mum, who lives with her husband Steven Boyle, 28, a recruitment consultant from Staffordshire, is now receiving chemotherapy and is planning a double mastectomy with immediate reconstruction.
She said: "Teddy is my hero - if it hadn't been for him I would never have suspected I had cancer. My consultant told me that breastfeeding helps a mother and baby bond. "In my case it did more than that - it saved my life.
"Teddy could obviously smell and taste that the milk from my right breast tasted different from the milk from my left breast - and so he rejected it.
"My consultant said he'd never seen anything like it before and was baffled and amazed. He told me it was very fortunate I chose to breastfeed - otherwise my illness may not have been discovered."
Mrs Boyle first noticed a lump in her right breast in January 2013.
Concerned, she went to her GP who told her it was cyst and nothing to worry about.
Over the course of four years, she had the cyst scanned five times as it fluctuated in size but was told it was hormonal and not malignant.
Mrs Boyle put her fears to the side and carried on with her life.
In May 2015, she fell pregnant with Teddy, her first born.
"My pregnancy was perfect," she recalls, "I couldn't wait to be a mum."
In February 2016, Teddy arrived weighing 7lb 15 ounces, and was a healthy and happy baby.
Mrs Boyle explains how she bonded instantly with Teddy.
"We had such a brilliant connection," she recalls, "he was breastfeeding fantastically well."
But five months on, as she continued to breastfeed, Mrs Boyle noticed her right breast wasn't 'working' as well as the other and it was smaller.
Concerned, she contacted her health care assistant but was told it was 'common' and nothing to be concerned about.
But one month later, when Teddy was six months old, he stopped feeding altogether from her right breast.
"If I offered him that booby he would completely freak out," she recalls, "he'd become extremely distressed and would scream the house down."
She returned to her GP and asked if it was to do with the cyst, but was told it was fine.
As the weeks rolled into months, Mrs Boyle tried her best to get Teddy to feed from her right breast but he wouldn't budge.
"He just wasn't having it," she recalls, "I had no problems with my left breast but every time I tried with my right he would start screaming and get very upset. He wouldn't go near it.
"He wanted nothing to do with that side, even if I gave him a cuddle on that side he didn't like it."
When Teddy was eight months old, Mrs Boyle went back to her GP and asked to be referred for a scan.
She said: "I explained about Teddy and how I was feeling very tired, I said I wanted to get a scan to check out my right breast. I felt as if Teddy was trying to tell me something. It was, what you might call, a mother's instinct."
In November 2016, Mrs Boyle underwent an ultrasound scan at Royal Stoke University Hospital.
"I'd just finished the scan and a consultant came in and said there was an area within the cyst which looked suspicious and I would need to undergo a biopsy."
Two weeks later, Mrs Boyle was diagnosed with grade 2 triple negative cancer - a non hormonal cancer which is extremely rare in young women.
She said: "My mind went into meltdown. One minute I'd been enjoying the new experience of motherhood, the next I was being told that I needed life-saving treatment.
"But I felt so proud of Teddy for bringing the problem to my attention. The cancer inside the cyst had been growing for three months - the exact same time Teddy stopped feeding from my breast."
Mrs Boyle tells how her consultant told her that a mother and baby's bond while breastfeeding is very strong. Just like mammals in the wild, babies know their mother's scent and milk and that's how they identify it's their mother.
