'We need more treatment options'

Research call after cancer battle

- Beth KIRKBRIDE

A MUM-OF-TWO who said her breasts “tried to kill (her)” after she was diagnosed with breast cancer just four weeks postpartum is calling for more research into treatment options.

Stay-at-home mum Tasha Carmen, 35, from Bristol, said she discovered a lump in her right breast while in the shower at 30 weeks pregnant with her second child but she delayed seeking help out of fears she would be forced to deliver early or terminate the pregnancy.

After giving birth to Elvis, now two, via a planned C-section in April 2023, Tasha’s husband Stefan, 35, an electrician, mentioned the lump to their midwife, who immediately referred her to a breast clinic for further testing.

She said she waited two weeks for the appointment and, two weeks after that, Tasha was told she had stage three triple negative breast cancer.

She started chemotherapy and immunotherapy straight away, before having a single mastectomy on her right breast although this did not affect breastfeeding, as she bottlefed her son.

Tasha later opted to have her healthy left breast removed in March this year, after feeling like her breasts “tried to kill (her)”.

She now feels like she is “the person that (she) was meant to be”.

“I'm so happy that I pushed to get it done, and I'm so happy that I am living flat - not many people do that,” Tasha said.

“I’m happy in my body. I’m probably a lot happier now than I was with breasts - this is the person that I was meant to be.”

Tasha was 30 weeks pregnant when she first discovered a lump in her right breast.

She said she “knew deep down” that something was wrong but pushed it to the back of her mind.

She showed Stefan the lump, but opted not to tell her mum, Sharon, 55, who is a nurse.