I was 38 when I noticed a small change in my body. It was a symptom of the ‘very dangerous’ and aggressive cancer growing in my breast

Ellie Rogers was 38 when she felt a lump the size of a ballpoint pen on her collarbone and almost shook it off — only to receive a devastating diagnosis that would change her life a few days later.

The Melbourne mother, now 45, was busy juggling two children and personal creative endeavors when she noticed something was wrong.

Speaking to FEMAIL, Ellie revealed that discovering she had an aggressive form of breast cancer was a ‘lucky fluke’ as she was ‘perfectly healthy’ and had no symptoms.

“I came home after dinner with my husband and was lying in bed with my hand on my chest,” she said of one night in August 2017.

‘I found a small bump very high up – almost on my collarbone – and I remember thinking it was unusual.’

Ellie didn’t feel like the lump was anywhere near her chest, but alarm bells started ringing in her head.

‘One of my best friends is a breast surgeon, so I sent her a picture of where the lump was, and she told me to make a doctor’s appointment.

“She said it was very high, but breast tissue sometimes moves up towards the neck.”

When Ellie went to the doctor for an ultrasound the next day, it was as if the lump had completely disappeared.

“I couldn’t find it anymore but I insisted on a scan anyway because I was sure I felt something strange the night before,” Ellie said.

‘I was lucky I did that because the lump had gone down and was between my ribcage.’

A technician immediately said the results were “very dangerous” and that it “looked like breast cancer.”

‘I panicked because they weren’t allowed to say that, they weren’t doctors. “I had to get another MRI and wait for the call from an official doctor, but someone had already told me I had breast cancer,” Ellie said.

She revealed that the time in limbo was “anxiety-inducing” and that she felt like her entire life was on pause.

“A doctor called me a few days later to confirm my diagnosis, and pretty soon after that I was admitted for a lumpectomy so my doctors could take the tumor out and test it,” she said.

The growth was 2 cm and it was an early stage of triple negative breast cancer, the most aggressive form.

“I was lucky to catch it so early because it would have been a fast-growing tumor,” she said.

The mother then went to several oncologists to figure out the best course of action, which ultimately resulted in four months of chemotherapy.

She said the treatment was “terrible” and “made her feel sick.”

‘I wasn’t sick when I started, I was completely healthy. But the chemo completely knocked me off my feet,” she recalls.

Ellie said her children were one of the main reasons she fought so hard to get better.

‘My children were three and five at the time, they were so small I couldn’t talk to them about it. “I didn’t want to worry them, and they were too young to understand anyway,” she said.

‘It was hard to pretend that nothing was wrong when I felt so terrible. I had so much mom guilt about missing bedtime stories or school drop-offs and pick-ups – I really wanted to do that for them.

‘I wasn’t sure how long I had left or if I would even make it. All I wanted was to be with my children. My biggest fear was that I wouldn’t see them grow up.’

Going through the treatment was also difficult because Ellie was ‘in hiding’ during her recovery.

‘I didn’t want any help from people, I only had my husband and my sister. My husband was wonderful; he did all this research into effective treatments,” she said.

‘He found out that the more exercise you do before and after the chemo sessions, the better it is, because it gets your blood flowing.

‘My husband made me do exercises and that wasn’t great because I felt terrible.

‘It was so surreal being someone going through chemotherapy – I felt like I didn’t know what was going on. It felt like the worst hangover in the world and it was constant.”

Ellie wore an ice cap during her sessions to protect her hair follicles and maintain a sense of normality.

The mother received her BRCA gene diagnosis shortly after finishing chemotherapy.

The BRCA gene is a mutation that dramatically increases a woman’s lifetime risk of developing cancer.

Ellie chose to undergo a preventive double mastectomy and hysterectomy.

She expressed awe that being able to feel the lump the size of a ballpoint pen saved her life.

“The development wasn’t advanced enough for any symptoms to appear,” Ellie said.

The now 45-year-old spends her time as a philanthropist and is co-founder of the Two Sisters Foundation which raises awareness and funds for breast and ovarian cancer research.

The charity works in partnership with the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI) in Melbourne.

Ellie has since moved to Noosa with her family and has a newfound respect for life.

“I just wanted to be where I wanted to be and live the life I wanted to live,” she said.

‘My husband and I wanted to get out of the city and raise our children on the beach. I didn’t know if I would get sick and not make it. I just knew I wanted to be up there.”

The most important lesson Ellie wants everyone to know is that you have to trust your instincts and stand up for yourself.

“If something doesn’t look right or you suspect, just talk to your doctor and get tested.”