When British mum Tayla Gardiner made the decision to undergo breast augmentation surgery back in 2014, she had no idea that the procedure would also save her in the years that followed.
Following the surgery, the Kent-based mother-of-one endured a number of health issues - including a rupture.
"I kept getting kidney and water infections and I went to have a full CT scan, which found my right breast had ruptured," Gardiner recently told press. "They took the implant out and it was yellow, it was so painful because of how long it was there for.
Advert
"I got two breast infections in August and December."
The surgeons in charge of the procedure eventually treated the rupture, and for almost 10 years, Gardiner remained fit and healthy.
That was, until January of this year, when she began encountering a number of unusual ailments.
Advert
As well as experiencing partial itchiness in her right breast, she'd also come across a slight lump in the same area, which she says felt like a 20p coin underneath her skin.
Concerned by the latter symptom, Gardiner got in touch with her GP and by February, she'd been referred to a cancer clinic.
"I thought it was a cyst or damaged tissue," she explained. "I saw a female doctor, she felt my breast, said it was very small, and that maybe it was an infection.
"She did a referral anyway just to make sure it was okay and thank God she did that."
Advert
Following an ultrasound and a biopsy, she received a devastating diagnosis.
Gardiner had Grade III triple-negative invasive ductal breast cancer.
The lump was found to be 17mm. Despite its small size, the out-of-work mum believes her breast augmentation surgery - which boosted her chest size to a 30E - pushed the cancerous mass forward.
Advert
"I think that helped find the lump because they say to check your boobs and you know if you have lumpy boobs that something isn't right," Gardiner continued.
"I can't put into words how I felt. The first thing I asked was, 'Am I going to die?'."
She is currently waiting for cancer doctors to recommend the best cause of treatment - 'a lumpectomy, a mastectomy, chemo or radiotherapy'.
"It's all a blur at the moment, it's a waiting game," Gardiner explained. "I don't feel unwell, I feel tired but I wouldn't know that's there. Apart from the lump I wouldn't know it's cancer."
Advert
She has also questioned whether or not her breast augmentation surgery may have had a part to play in the disease taking told of her body.
"It's such a coincidence that it happened in my right breast where it ruptured."
Gardiner is now using her experience as a means of encouraging others to check their breasts regularly.
"If I left that for a year I don't know where I would have been by then," she confessed. "We know our bodies.
"If you have any little thing, if you feel something isn't right, anything you doublethink and is in your mind I'd go straight to the doctors and get it checked. I wouldn't wait, I wouldn't leave it. Even if you feel a bit silly."
She added: "You only have one life and you don't think about it but when you get diagnosed you start seeing life in a different way. Every day I just walk around thinking 'I have this cancer in my breast and I just want to cut it out'."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact Macmillan’s Cancer Support Line on 0808 808 00 00, 8am–8pm seven days a week.
Rhianna Benson