‘I thought I had a gym injury but it turned out to be a cancerous tumour’

Watch: 'I used to be an 'it girl' - then an avocado-sized tumour ruined my life'

A woman has revealed how her 'muscle twinge' turned out to be an avocado-sized cancerous tumour in her left shoulder.

Cat Holden, 23, went from working in London and going on holidays abroad, to living back with her parents and needing 24-hour care and says her cancer diagnosis ruined her life.

The an assistant underwriter, from Ingatestone, Essex, experienced her first symptoms - a shoulder twinge and weak arms - a year before her diagnosis, initially believing she'd injured herself at the gym.

After a round of physiotherapy and an initial diagnosis of tendonitis, Cat visited a private health clinic asking for an MRI.

On January 10, 2024, doctors spotted a tumour in her left shoulder and, two month later, she was told it was cancerous.

She's now entering her fifth round of chemotherapy, of 18, and looking at having her shoulder and humerus bone removed and replaced with metal.

“Getting cancer was a really pivotal point in my life because I was confronted by something I never thought would happen," she says of her diagnosis.

“It’s devastating hearing, at 23, you’ll never have full function of your shoulder again.

"Being referred to Macmillan and told I’d need six to nine months of chemotherapy was the darkest day of my life.

“I still can’t get my head around it.”

Holden was on a family holiday in Great Yarmouth in March 2023 when her left shoulder began to hurt while she was rock climbing.

The pain continued after she came off the wall, but she wasn’t worried enough to go to the GP, thinking she’d injured a muscle.

But in August, she felt a twinge in her shoulder again while swimming and describes being “hardly able to keep her head above water”.

When she got home, she booked an appointment with a GP to see what was going on.

“The doctor said it looked really inflamed,” she said.

“But they couldn’t see anything else on the ultrasound, so I was diagnosed with tendonitis.

“I was told I likely just needed rest and ibuprofen.

“I guess I always thought it was something more - maybe a tear in the tendon.

“I did some physio exercises on an app too - once a week for six weeks.”

After finishing the physiotherapy course, Holden headed on holiday to Australia, but while climbing the Sydney Bridge and skydiving she says she started to feel “something was really wrong”.

Her shoulder went from aching to throbbing and disrupting her sleep.

“I got home from Australia in mid-November and while I had no lumps or bumps I couldn’t lift my left shoulder above a right-angle.

“I’d lay awake every night and feel a pulse in my shoulder.

“Even my physiotherapist noticed I’d really lost strength in my arm.”

After being referred by a private healthcare company, Holden was sent to a shoulder specialist on January 5, where she was told she needed an urgent MRI.

“On the way to the appointment I said to my mum ‘I hope I’m not going to need any keyhole surgery or injections.’

“We both just said that would be really annoying.

"But when the consultant walked into the room and shook my hand - I knew something wasn’t right.

“He said ‘we’ve found something really unusual in your shoulder - a tumour.'”

After exploratory surgery and a biopsy, on March 8 Holden was diagnosed with a malignant giant cell tumour.

This is a tumour found in the long bones of the arms and legs. They’re often benign, but in Holden's case it was cancerous.

Holden was told she’d need six to nine months of chemotherapy, which she started straight away.

“I was told I could lose my hair, my hearing and my immune system was going to go so low I’d be susceptible to things like sepsis," she says.

In the two months since, Holden has lost her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, and has developed a permanent hearing impairment called tinnitus.

“You have to find the strength within you to get through it," she says.

“I don’t recognise myself in the mirror anymore - I used to have long, blonde hair and was healthy.

“I underestimated the mental and physical battle people have to go through.

“I have days where I think I look like a goblin - I’m losing weight and I’m so pale.

“Chemo makes me feel like I’ve been hit by a bus," she continues. "I get nausea, sickness, diarrhoea, fatigue and the most awful mouth sores."

Holden has also been told the chemo could have an impact on her fertility.

"I've had my eggs frozen, but it was quite harrowing," she adds.

Next month Holden will have her shoulder removed and replaced with metal, which will cause her lifelong mobility issues such as not being able to raise her arm.

But despite her ordeal, Holden says she's determined to have a positive outlook.

“I’m going to carry the trauma of this with me forever, but I’ll be appreciating life so much more after this,” she adds.

Additional reporting SWNS.

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