
I'd never heard of BIA ALCL, or Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma, until the 24th of October last year.
It's a very rare but very real form of cancer that affects the immune system of women with breast implants.
I was a 27-year-old group fitness instructor, working full-time in medical bookings. I lived a very active, healthy life - until I started noticing my fatigue increasing.
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Eventually I became so fatigued after teaching fitness classes I felt I needed a nap. I was also experiencing really bad brain fog.
I didn't know what was wrong, and I put it down to a busy lifestyle and being tired. But I decided to have an ultrasound on my chest as I had been getting shortness of breath and chest tightness during exercising, and also sporadically while resting or sleeping.
I wasn't sure if this was childhood asthma returning or something else, but I honestly wasn't expecting what they found.
The sonographer told me I had a large pocket of fluid under my left breast implant, but this was usually nothing to worry about and could easily be drained.
I decided to have this drained the next day just to get it sorted. The radiologist on shift was also a colleague I worked with, so she drained the fluid and sent it off to be tested for anything sinister - but again, we weren't expecting anything.
The next day, while at work, a colleague passed me a fax which happened to be my cytology results. In big bold letters under my name it said 'malignancy - BIA ALCL - Breast Implant-Associated Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma.'
Apparently, this cancer usually takes years to form after implants. For me, it was six years.
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