9 in 10 young women not taking active steps to protect breast health: Poll

Ms Jamie Ng was flourishing in her career in the fashion industry, with a degree under her belt and a stable job, when she found out three years ago that she had breast cancer.

- Calista Wong

She was just 23.

When she received her medical diagnosis stage 2 triple negative breast cancer she felt like everything came to a pause and her life had gone off the rails.

Ms Ng said: "My mind just went blank... The doctors told me it was the most aggressive form of breast cancer."

The first sign of cancer emerged on Feb 1, 2022, when Ms Ng was lying on her side and felt sharp pain every now and then near her left breast.

She began massaging the area, hoping to ease the pain, and that was when she felt a small, quail egg-size lump.

"Before the pain, I did not know it was there at all," she said.

She was diagnosed with cancer the same month, and underwent a double mastectomy in August 2022, right about the time she turned 24.

Now 27 and cancer-free, Ms Ng has switched jobs and is a financial adviser.

In her spare time, she helps out at the Breast Cancer Foundation (BCF) as a befriender to support others battling the disease.

She said: "Breast cancer can happen to anyone at any time. It doesn't discriminate based on age or wait until you are financially sound."

Her one niggle was not knowing about conducting her own breast self-examination earlier.