A teacher was diagnosed with breast cancer at just 22 years old – after she noticed a “pea-sized lump”. Erin Johnston, from Greenwich, south east London, was diagnosed with cancer for the first time in December 2019, after she came across a “tiny” abnormality on her breast.
Doctors initially told Erin the lump was likely “innocent” due to her age, but a biopsy revealed she actually had stage 1 breast cancer. Erin, now 28, said: “It was a real rollercoaster. When I first noticed it, it was tiny – it was a pea-sized lump.
“But I knew my body and I knew it wasn’t normal. I called my GP and got an appointment that same day and they referred me to hospital for a biopsy.
“I felt scared, but the doctors were so calm I thought it would be fine. But then when I had the biopsy I just knew it was something.
“Luckily, it hadn’t spread and was treatable. I had caught it really early and, crucially, I was taken seriously by both my GP and the team at St Guy’s Hospital.”
In February and March 2020, Erin had two surgeries – a lumpectomy and a DIEP reconstruction – and then underwent chemotherapy and preventative hormone therapy. Because of the hormone therapy, Erin was given the choice to freeze her eggs.
She said: “I just remember that I was so young. At the time, I didn’t even know if I wanted children.
“I had only just finished university; I hadn’t even started my career. It all felt so far in the future. I just felt like I had to grow up really quickly.”
Erin decided to freeze her eggs, which was offered on the NHS, and in August 2020, she got the all-clear. The primary school teacher thought everything was behind her, but in May 2023 she noticed another abnormality – this time a “very small bit of hard skin”.
She said: “It was smaller than a centimetre. Again, that was my only symptom.”
Sadly, tests confirmed that Erin’s cancer had returned – and she had to have further surgery and start radiotherapy. Erin was again declared cancer-free at the end of 2023, but is still undergoing preventative hormone therapy, which now doesn’t finish until 2028. This means that storing her eggs is no longer offered on the NHS – and she has to pay the cost herself if she wants to be able to have children in the future.
Erin said: “When I first froze my eggs in 2020, the hormone therapy was due to last five years and end in 2025. Then, I was meant to have the choice about what I wanted to do about my fertility.
“But it’s been taken out of my hands now. I have to extend freezing my eggs if I want children in my future.
“If I hadn’t had that recurrence, children might be something my partner and I would have been considering at this point. But now it just feels like we’ve had to put our lives on hold.”
Erin says the annual cost of storing her eggs is £350, which is a discounted rate because of her being referred by an oncology department. While Erin says she accepts the cost isn’t “a huge amount”, she feels it would still be a struggle as she and her partner Jordan, 28, are currently saving for a house. She also feels the situation is “unjust”, as she didn’t have a choice when it came to freezing her eggs in the first place.
Erin said: “That letter – the one that confirmed I’d have to pay moving forwards – it was really hard to see after everything. It was upsetting.
“I guess at this point as well I’m almost two years cancer-free and I’m starting to see my life get back to normal. Then it’s another thing you have to do as a result of the cancer.
“Throughout the past five and a half years I feel proud of how I have navigated it all. I’ve stayed positive and calm.
“But being asked to pay for my eggs, despite a recurrence and still being in treatment, feels deeply unjust. Because this isn’t something I chose.
“It’s difficult too because there are other things we’re thinking of – like we’re trying to save money to buy a house. But then there’s this other payment we have to think about too.”
Erin and Jordan shared the situation with their families and friends – many of whom immediately offered to help out. From there, more people heard and wanted to help and the couple ended up setting up a GoFundMe.
Erin said: “I’ve always felt really lucky with my support system. My family, my boyfriend’s family, our friends – they’ve all been there ever since I was first diagnosed.
“We didn’t know we’d have to do this, but it’s amazing to have people we can call on. Most people in their 20s or 30s aren’t having to plan in the same way, but of course going through something like this changes the way you talk about becoming parents.
“We definitely want to have children and so this is how we keep that door open. We’ve paid for the first year of storage and then from what we’ve raised so far we’re going to try pay for the next few years. We’re really grateful.”
Erin also wanted to speak out about her experience to raise awareness for her symptoms – and encourage people to get themselves checked out.
She said: “My lump was so small that I could have ignored it and it could have sat there for years growing and growing. If I had done that, it could have been a completely different story.
“I think people often think, ‘Oh, it’s a small thing,’ or, ‘Oh, I feel well otherwise’. But it’s really important people get checked out – and important that people are taken seriously no matter their age. So awareness is really important to me.”
At the time of writing Erin had raised around £1,400 of a £1,800 target via GoFundMe.
