Linda Howell
Donation protected
My name is Kirsty McVey, and I’m raising funds for Linda Howell and her family after Linda was given a terminal breast cancer diagnosis.
The funds raised will go towards the education for Linda’s children, any medical expenses, household bills and any expense in the future.
Please read and see if we can do anything to help Linda.
I’ve known Linda Howell for around 5 years now. I’ve photographed Linda and her husband Lee, plus their beautiful son Ezra before they welcomed their second son Eli.
It was after Linda gave birth to Eli that she realised something was wrong. Despite finding a small lump in her breast, she was continually told by health care professionals both before and after giving birth that it was a blocked milk duct.
After finally being taken seriously by a GP during Eli’s 6 week check up, Linda had a biopsy which came back as suspicious for malignancy. This lead to more biopsies, ultrasounds, an MRI, a CT scan, a mammogram and a bone scan. It was about a 2 week wait for the scan results where Linda didn't know if she was going to live or die.
On the 11th of February 2022 Linda was officially diagnosed with Stage 2, Grade 3 Invasive Ductal Carcinoma - Breast Cancer. She has a not so common subtype (ER/PR- HER2+) which is highly aggressive.
“Now, I don't blame my health care professionals for dismissing my lump as a blocked milk duct - if they had never seen a pregnant woman with breast cancer before it is an easy oversight.
However, with 1 in 1000 pregnancies being afflicted by cancer (a third of them being breast cancer) and pregnant and lactating women being at an increased risk of breast cancer for at least 5 years after childbirth, it is something that should have a standard operating procedure around and education during gaining their qualifications.
I believe that all it will take is for each and every health care professional to meet someone like me and hear my story for them to have that imprinted in their mind so that next time their patient mentions a lump in their breast or breast changes, they click into gear and start a monitoring and referral process.
Early detection saves lives. On the young women's breast cancer pages, the most common point mentioned is that they were dismissed for similar reasons to what I was - many of them now have advanced cancers which could have been identified and treated much earlier.”
Linda has been through 33 rounds of chemotherapy, 15 rounds of dose dense radiation, a double mastectomy, heart failure treatment, serious infection treatment and treatment for a pulmonary embolism over the last two years.
In 2024, her left (non-cancer side) expander pierced her skin so she had emergency surgery to remove it.
Unfortunately her surgeon found a mass that he sent off for a biopsy. When that came back as an aggressive triple negative cancer, Linda had to have a new lot of scans. Those scans sadly showed it had metastasised to her lungs, adrenal gland and potentially C7 and Ovary. Prognosis for metastatic triple negative breast cancer is extremely poor.
“I am on a mission to ensure that every midwife and Dr dealing with young women hears my story in the hope that no young woman is ever dismissed again.
I believe this will save lives. I also want to remind young women everywhere that they are never too young for this disease and it is crucial to monitor any changes in their breasts.
If you do not feel heard by your health care professional, seek a second opinion and keep seeking until you get an answer.”
Thank you for starting your charity, The BEAT Movement, Linda.
If any of us can do anything, at all, to help you, please tell us.
You are a brave, courageous woman and I will do everything I can.
Organizer and beneficiary
Kirsty McVey
Organizer
Port Noarlunga South, SA
Linda Howell
Beneficiary