Synchronised swimming leads to woman’s breast cancer diagnosis

A woman discovered she had a 4cm tumour after she was accidentally kicked in the breast during synchronised swimming training.

Gaye Greely, 51, had no pain, no symptoms and no family history of cancer.

But after she was accidentally kicked in the breast during swimming training in 2017, she was shocked to discover she had a grade 3 tumour.

“If it hadn’t been for that incident, I would never have known it was there. It could have been a very different story,” she said.

Ms Greely, a hotel receptionist from Seaford, East Sussex, took up swimming as a child to help her asthma.

She went on to be a speed swimmer before switching to synchronised swimming and joining the Brighton Dolphin Synchronised Swimming team.

She said: “I didn’t think much of it [the kick] at the time, but my breast was sore and eventually I found a lump. I was 48, so too young for mammogram screening.

“I went to the doctor, although cancer was the last thing on my mind. When they told me I had a 4cm, grade 3 tumour, I was very shocked.”

She underwent chemotherapy before a lumpectomy and radiotherapy.

Ms Greely was advised to stay out of the water because of the risk of infection when she was wearing a portacath – a small device placed under the skin to deliver drugs intravenously.

“It wasn’t an easy time but the thing that gutted me the most was that I had to miss a competition in Budapest,” she said.

It was not long before Ms Greely was back swimming in the sea before stepping back into the pool.

Now, she and her teammates are encouraging others to help raise money for cancer charities and are ready to compete for more World Masters Championship medals.

The team are also keen to encourage people to join them for this year’s Swimathon, which is taking place at pools across the UK from 20 March and raises money for Cancer Research UK and Marie Curie charities.

(c) Sky News 2020: Synchronised swimming leads to woman’s breast cancer diagnosis