A pregnant mum was shocked to discover she had cancer after thinking a symptom was her breast milk coming in. Alex Cheshire-Round assumed her hardened breast tissue at 24 weeks was a sign her milk was arriving early.
The 29-year-old was expecting her second child when she noticed firmness on her right breast while rolling over in bed in May. She had begun leaking milk at 18 weeks pregnant with her firstborn, Ronnie, now 10 months old, so believed it was occurring again.
Diagnosis and surgery
Her husband, Tom Cheshire-Round, 31, encouraged her to get it examined, and a biopsy and scans confirmed she had stage three breast cancer. Alex had a half-centimetre lump removed from her breast and lymph nodes extracted from under her right arm at Coventry hospital.
Five minutes after she woke from the operation, her baby was distressed, and Alex was put under again. Her daughter, Lexi, was born at 1.57pm weighing 4lb 13oz at 33 weeks.
Family and treatment
Alex, from Nuneaton in Warwickshire, who works in sales, said: 'This is very scary and was a huge shock. I just shrugged it off at first - you go through so many changes when you're pregnant.' She added: 'It's so rare for someone my age to get breast cancer. I just thought it must be something to do with pregnancy and hormonal changes.'
Alex and Tom, an engineer, discovered they were expecting their second child in December 2025. Lexi and Ronnie are 'Irish twins' - children born less than 12 months apart.
Alex first noticed something was different with her breast as she rolled over in bed in the early hours of May 21, and visited her GP on May 26. She underwent a mammogram at George Eliot Hospital during the first week of June, where medics spotted swollen lymph nodes and carried out a biopsy. A week later, she received the news that she had at least stage two cancer and required further tests. Following MRI and CT scans, Alex was told her cancer was stage three on July 9. The scans revealed the cancer had not spread to her heart, liver or lungs, though a full-body CT scan was not possible due to her pregnancy.
Health challenges and recovery
Just two days before her operation, Alex was diagnosed with gestational diabetes, requiring close monitoring of her blood sugar levels. Baby Lexi was taken to the special care unit following her birth, where she was placed on oxygen and given a feeding tube. Alex was discharged from hospital on July 18, while Lexi was transferred to George Eliot Hospital on July 20, which is nearer to home.
Alex underwent genetic testing due to having received 30 months of chemotherapy as a child, following her diagnosis with lymphoblastic lymphoma at the age of four. She said: 'This feels very unlucky! I worry about whether I'll be able to see my children grow up.'
Alex urged others to seek help if they notice anything 'unusual'. She said: 'Anything unusual with your body get it checked out straight away, check and double check. If you're pregnant, don't assume any changes are to do with that or your hormones, get it checked out.'
Breast cancer symptoms
According to the NHS, symptoms of breast cancer in women may include: a lump or swelling in your breast, chest or armpit; a change in the skin of your breast, such as dimpling or redness; a change in size or shape of one or both breasts; nipple discharge (if you are not pregnant or breastfeeding), which may have blood in it; a change in the shape or look of your nipple, such as it turning inwards or a rash on it.
The NHS said: 'You may get pain in your breast or armpit with these symptoms. But you can have these symptoms without any pain.'
