This woman’s breast cancer photo went viral because it can seriously help save a life

Women are told from a fairly young age to be diligent about checking for lumps in our breasts. We’re often told by doctors to do these checkups in the shower. But one woman’s viral breast cancer photo is spreading the word that feeling for lumps in the shower may not be as affective as we think.

27-year-old Hayley Browning from Essex, England was diagnosed with breast cancer just over three weeks ago. She posted a photo of herself in the hospital and explained in the caption that she could not feel her breast cancer lump whilst standing. She could only feel it when lying down.

“Not even the surgeon could feel my lump when I was standing up. So, this is a call out to all women to check for lumps lying down, as well as standing up,” Browning wrote on Facebook.

After including #LaidBackLumps in her caption, Browning’s post has since been shared over 150,000 times. She talked to The Sun Online about receiving her devastating diagnosis. “I was with my Mum and Dad when I went to the hospital for my biopsy results and never in a million years did I think that the doctor would say those words,” Browning said.

Luckily, the doctor stated that the cancer was treatable and Browning has already undergone her lumpectomy. For the next five months, she will be treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Browning told the Sun that she wanted to share her story on Facebook to help others who could potentially face the same diagnosis. She said,

“I felt it was important to share my learning of also feeling for lumps lying down as this helped me find my lump early enough for it to be treatable. I am completely overwhelmed with the amount of interest in my post and so thankful to everyone for helping me spread my message.”

She said that even if one person benefits from her message, then that makes it all worth it.

If you notice any irregularities with your breasts (while standing up or lying down), we urge you to see a doctor. Whether there is a noticeable change in size or shape, inversion of a nipple, redness or rash, lumps or odd skin texture, it never hurts to have a checkup.

Thanks to Browning’s trending #LaidBackLumps post, in some cases, we can hopefully nip breast cancer in the bud.

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