A Huntingdon mother who waited three months to get a lump in her breast checked has urged others not to wait – get medical advice straight away.

Sonia Dyne, of Coronation Avenue, discovered a lump in her breast but failed to mention it to her GP until December.

When the 44-year-old told her doctor, she was referred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge for a mammogram and was told she had grade three breast cancer – the highest grading.

Two weeks later she had a mastectomy operation, during which two tumours were removed.

Now Mrs Dyne, who was due to start chemotherapy on Friday (January 10), is urging people who have felt a lump to go to their doctor.

“I don’t know why I didn’t mention it earlier,” she told The Hunts Post. “I guess I was pre-occupied with my other conditions, as I have chronic fatigue syndrome and others. I would go to the doctor and talk about my other conditions and not the lump.

“I didn’t have any symptoms that made me feel any worse than my existing conditions. It seems stupid, especially as I have a very approachable doctor. I thought it was just a cyst but my husband kept telling me to check it out.

“When I had my mammogram they referred me straight away to have an ultra sound, then a week later they confirmed I had cancer.”

Mrs Dyne wants “to turn a negative into a positive” and get more people to get themselves checked.

“I think it’s the British way of not wanting to talk about cancer, but people shouldn’t get so het up about it or embarrassed to go,” she said.

“The support I have got throughout has been amazing – from Priory Fields surgery, Addenbrooke’s and the Woodlands Cancer Centre.”

Since her operation Mrs Dyne has cut off her hair for charity, and donated it to the Little Princess Trust to make wigs for children with alopecia or undergoing chemotherapy. She also raised more than £470 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Husband Jay, 44, daughters Abbey, 24, and Bronte, 21, as well as Abbey’s boyfriend Nathan Orbell, are supporting the fundraising effort by giving up alcohol in January as part of Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon.