When Jan Dea heard that she had contracted the coronavirus, it had never crossed her mind what the consequences would be for her. It started with computed tomography to detect possible blood clots in the lungs. These turned out to be clean. However, when the woman found out about the test results, she was – as she herself says – “shocked”. Later, her surgeon told her straight: COVID-19 saved your life.
- In late 2020, retired nurse Jan Dea contracted COVID-19
- At the hospital, she underwent a lung CT scan – no clots were found, but it turned out that a tumor had developed in her right breast. Subsequent tests confirmed that it was breast cancer
- Jan Dea regularly performed mammography, but due to the “thick structure of the breast”, no neoplastic changes were detected
- At the hospital, she learned that the cancer would not start showing symptoms until it was advanced. “COVID-19 saved your life,” she heard from the doctor
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«I was shocked, I had all the tests»
Jan Dea is 61 years old, lives in Stockton-on-Tees (a town in the North East of England) and is a retired nurse. After 20 years of work at the ward of the University Hospital of North Tees, she found herself there again, this time as a patient. It was late 2020. That’s when she found out he had COVID-19.
«I was at the end of my isolation but not feeling well. I was freezing and shaking but my daughter said I was burning up. She called 111 (British health service number, she handles non-emergency cases – ed.), But because I have asthma, they sent an ambulance »Dea told Express.co.uk.
“The next day they took me to a checkup to check my lungs,” she recalls. Computed tomography with contrast showed no clots, but the examination revealed something else: “a tumor in my right breast”.
Unfortunately, a woman could see a specialist only after obtaining two negative results of the coronavirus test. When it finally happened, doctors “confirmed it was breast cancer”. «I was shocked, I had all the mammograms. I get a checkup every three years, I thought everything was fine » – the woman recalls.
From the surgeon she heard: COVID-19 saved your life
“I was told that the symptoms of breast cancer would show up when the tumor was too advanced.” «COVID-19 saved your life» the woman heard from her surgeon. Doctors cut out the tumor and some lymph nodes to which the cancer luckily hasn’t spread. Then the patient underwent radiotherapy. The disease is currently in remission.
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But how did it happen that previous regular mammograms did not detect a malignant tumor in the woman, which is breast cancer? Jan Dea belongs to the group of ladies from the so-called dense breast tissue (breasts are mainly made of glands, not fatty tissue). In this case, it is more difficult to spot suspicious changes during the examination.
But Melanie Sturtevant of Breast Cancer Now emphasizes: “While we know that mammography may be less effective in detecting cancer in women with thick breasts, we encourage women to continue going for breast screening and getting regular tests. Let us add that the diagnosis of “thick breasts” is improved by breast ultrasound.
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