A doctor diagnosed a tiny sore on my body as shingles. It was actually the ONLY sign of my aggressive breast cancer... and a last minute decision was the only reason they found it at all
- Sarah Jane Withyman went to the doctor with a small sore
- She had no other symptoms - but a scan revealed stage 3 breast cancer
- READ MORE: I thought I was too young for cancer so I ignored a health red flag
When Sarah Jane Withyman noticed a small, painful sore on her breast, cancer was the last thing on her mind.
At 38, she was healthy, busy, and juggling work as a self-employed hairdresser with raising her children. The sore, which appeared on her nipple in May 2021, seemed minor - it was uncomfortable, but not alarming.
'I didn't think anything of it. It was just a sore,' Sarah, from Newcastle, told the Daily Mail.
A visit to her GP initially confirmed what she had suspected: shingles.
Shingles is caused by the varicella zoster virus - a member of the herpes family that most people contract as children, and also causes chickenpox.
Once a person is infected, the virus stays dormant in the body but can, if the immune system is temporarily weakened, reactivate.
Relieved, Sarah could have easily left it there. But as a precaution, her doctor recommended she undergo a mammogram and ultrasound - just to be thorough.
'I remember thinking, I'll just do it anyway,' she said.
When Sarah Jane Withyman noticed a small, painful sore on her breast, cancer was the last thing on her mind
At 38, she was healthy, busy, and juggling work as a self-employed hairdresser with raising her children
That decision would change everything.
During the follow-up imaging, doctors discovered a tumour deep within her chest wall - a form of triple negative breast cancer, one of the more aggressive subtypes - and it was already stage 3.
'I didn't believe it at first,' she recalled.
'It was surreal. I had no symptoms for the cancer at all.'
Unlike many breast cancer diagnoses, there had been no obvious warning signs - no lump she could feel, no visible changes beyond the unrelated shingles sore that had brought her to the doctor in the first place.
The moment she realised something was seriously wrong came when her doctor called her after hours.
'That's when I knew. You don't get a call like that unless it's serious.'
Within days, she was referred directly to a specialist breast and endocrine centre, and the reality of her diagnosis began to sink in.
Unlike many breast cancer diagnoses, there had been no obvious warning signs - no lump she could feel, no visible changes beyond the unrelated shingles sore that had brought her to the doctor in the first place
'It was awful. And it was all happening in the middle of COVID. It just felt like a really strange time.'
Sarah underwent her first lumpectomy in June 2021, with surgeons removing the tumour along with several lymph nodes. In a rare piece of good news, the lymph nodes were clear - meaning the cancer had not yet spread.
'It was caught early enough, which was amazing,' she said.
However, additional surgery was required to ensure clear margins, followed by four rounds of chemotherapy.
While the diagnosis was confronting, the timing - during pandemic lockdowns - unexpectedly allowed her to focus entirely on treatment and recovery.
'For the first time in my life, I was getting paid not to work. The kids were home so I didn't have to be running around, everything slowed down, and I could just focus on getting through it.'
Still, the mum said chemotherapy brought its own challenges.
During her first round, Sarah was hospitalised with severe side effects, including dangerously high temperatures and an intense migraine that left her unable to move or open her eyes.
Sarah underwent her first lumpectomy in June 2021, with surgeons removing the tumour along with several lymph nodes
'I ended up in hospital for five days,' she said.
After a series of treatments and medications, it was ultimately a nurse's simple intervention - aspirin - that relieved her symptoms, something she now relies on to manage similar pain.
Despite the ordeal, she said her experience with chemotherapy was manageable, though far from easy.
'It wasn't pleasant. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.'
As part of her treatment, Sarah also underwent genetic testing - despite having no family history of breast cancer.
The results revealed she carried a PALB2 gene mutation, significantly increasing her risk of breast, ovarian, and pancreatic cancers.
Armed with that knowledge, she made the decision to undergo a preventative double mastectomy in May 2022.
Throughout her treatment, she remained focused on maintaining a sense of normalcy for her children, even as her own world shifted.
Sarah found comfort in routine and movement, often walking long distances to clear her mind - including regular 12-kilometre walks to Blacksmiths Beach
'There were flowers, meals, people dropping things off. The support from my friends and family was incredible.'
She found comfort in routine and movement, often walking long distances to clear her mind - including regular 12-kilometre walks to Blacksmiths Beach.
'I just needed to keep moving,' she said.
Her husband, she revealed, coped in his own way - throwing himself into renovating their home rather than confronting the emotional weight of the situation.
'We laugh about it now. That was how he dealt with it - by tiling the front of the house and turning our media room into a laundry and butler's pantry.'
Now 43 and continuing regular check-ups every six months, Sarah said the physical battle may be behind her - but the mental impact lingers.
'At the time, I was in survival mode. I told myself I'd be fine because there was no other option.'
But in the years since, a lingering anxiety has emerged.
'Every ache, every pain, you think something's wrong. You think the cancer is back.'
Despite this, she continues to move forward - running her business, raising her family, and sharing her story in the hope it might encourage others to listen to their bodies.
Because without that initial, seemingly unrelated symptom, her cancer may not have been found until it was too late.
'I never would have known,' she said.
Her experience highlights a critical gap in awareness - particularly for cancers that don't present in obvious ways.
'Most people I know who've had breast cancer found a lump straight away. Mine was completely different,' she said.
And it all began with something as simple - and as easy to dismiss - as a sore.
Sarah is the face of Breast Cancer Trials' For Our Mums Appeal, a matched donation Giving Day to be held on Thursday 7 May.
For 24 hours only, donations from the public will be doubled dollar-for-dollar by a group of generous supporters, to help fund life-saving clinical trials.
To donate to Breast Cancer Trials' For Our Mums appeal, please visit forourmums.breastcancertrials.org.au or ring 1800 423 444.
