The American discovered the first sign of her later diagnosis when she was breastfeeding her 9-month-old son Theo. Although she initially thought it was a milk clot, later a series of tests revealed the truth.
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Tess Christineas it is known in social networks, is a American beauty guru and influencer who became popular after opening his channel Youtube in 2011, right at the height of the platform’s tutorials.
Although she garnered a large community of followers, she saw her popularity increase some time later when she uploaded a video to the platform with her boyfriend, the photographer Patrick Raitorwho drew attention for his great resemblance to singer Harry Styles.
Since that date, the couple continued to collaborate on the network by undertaking various challenges. One of them was to copy the clothing of the popular singer.
The influencer is used to telling the milestones of her life through social networks, such as the launch of her own clothing brand, her marriage to Patrick and the birth of her son Theo, she made no exception a few days ago when discovered that she had cancer while breastfeeding her 9-month-old son.
Christine suddenly disappeared from social media for over a month, an unusual situation. When she resumed her accounts she did so with a explanation that left his followers surprised.
Christina’s return
“Hello It’s Me! I missed you. A little update of my life is necessary. Breast cancer: something that at 30 years old I did not think I would face”he wrote on his Instagram account along with a photo gallery where he is seen in the different stages of the process, from detection to double mastectomy to which he was subjected.
Later, the beauty guru was in charge of telling the story behind her disappearance from the networks through a video uploaded to YouTube where she recounted all the processes she had faced since her diagnosis of breast cancer.
“This video is about an update on what has been going on. I left social networks abruptly, not intentionally, it’s just that my life changed abruptly“He began by explaining in the record.
“I was diagnosed with breast cancer in early March […] I could have left it out, but my goal is to raise awareness about this”Christine said in the video.
The first warning sign
“As many of you will know, I had my son Theo almost 10 months agoone day I was breastfeeding him and everything was going well, until I felt a lump in my breast. It was small and did not catch my attention at that moment, since when you are in that process your breasts change, “he said.
“I thought it was a milk clot as it is so common, I didn’t want to panic but I was aware of it. Until one day, when I stopped breastfeeding at all, the lump was still there.”he explained.
After that, the influencer recounted, woke up with severe chest pain so he went to a doctor. He told her that it was probably nothing to worry about, since pain is usually not a symptom of cancer until it is very advancedso he assured her that it was just a cyst.
Although this diagnosis gave Christine peace of mind, she stated that she had the feeling that the situation was not so simple, so he requested a mammogram to clarify.
“I had a mammogram and a sonogram. When the radiologist called me into her office, my heart sank because I knew something was up”said the 30-year-old influencer.
The influencer’s breast cancer diagnosis
The specialist could not confirm at the time what it was, but she did not like what the exam showed. Later, the woman confirmed that it was not a cyst, but a malignant tumor, that is, it could spread to other parts of the body.
“I received a call that stopped my world, after that call I went black, my world froze”. The influencer had been diagnosed with a invasive ductal carcinomaa kind of cancer that affects the ducts that carry milk but rarely spreads to surrounding breast tissueas described by the American Cancer Society.
After that, the influencer underwent an MRI where they found more cancer cells in her lymph nodes and in the other breast, both of which turned out to be benignthat is, they could grow but not spread.
For this reason, The 30-year-old influencer had to undergo a double mastectomy and a subsequent reconstruction of her breasts.
Currently, Christine is waiting for the results of various tests to define what treatment she should follow to prevent the spread of cancer.
Worldwide, breast cancer in women has now overtaken lung cancer as the most commonly diagnosed cancer and in 2020 they were diagnosed more than two million new cases in the worldaccording to American Society of Clinical Oncology.
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