Learning To Be Vigilant About Symptoms
- Mikki Phipps, a 30-year-old woman living in England, has opened up about living with incurable cancer and the moment she realized something was wrong.
- The brave woman, whose life-affirming motto ‘you grow through what you go through’ has gained popularity and is now being used for the Tickled Pink campaign, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer, which eventually spread to her liver, lungs, and brain, at the age of 26 after finding a lump in her breast.
- Phipps has proven that an advanced cancer diagnosis does not mean you stop living.
The West Sussex resident said she discovered a coin-sized lump under her left armpit at the age of 26, with the knowledge that both her mom and late grandma were diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 50.
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“I want anyone who has the same diagnosis as me to know it does not mean this is the end. There can still be good times ahead,” Phipps told the news outlet.
The loving wife to 31-year-old Tom continued, “You can't be positive all the time, but you can try and be as positive as you can. Before my diagnosis, I had been on antidepressants, but I stopped those as soon as I knew. I also stopped worrying about things that will never happen.”
Her worries may have subsided, but she has also admitted to having new thoughts about her “end-of-life” and funeral.”

Related: Risk Factors for Breast Cancer
And despite having had her eggs and embryos frozen prior to treatment, Phipps has decided to have the embryos destroyed as it’s highly possible they will carry the breast cancer gene mutation.
“While I do make time to feel the sadness, I don't dwell on it or allow it to dominate my life," she added.
Phipps, who noted how doesn’t want to know her prognosis, said, “I have the treatment that works for me until it doesn't and then we try a new one.”
Coping with a Cancer Diagnosis
Even though Mikki Phipps needed to stop working as a civil service trainer, she remains positive and hopes to inspire others to check for breast cancer.
“Cancer changes you: physically, psychologically and emotionally. I want to make the most of the time I have left,” she explained.
Dr. Zuri Murrell, a Colorectal Surgeon at Cedars-Sinai, said in a previous interview how having a positive attitude through cancer, as Phipps does, can be beneficial." My patients who thrive, even with stage 4 cancer, from the time that they, about a month after they're diagnosed, I kind of am pretty good at seeing who is going to be OK," said Dr. Murrell.
"Now doesn't that mean I'm good at saying that the cancer won't grow. But I'm pretty good at telling what kind of patients are going to still have this attitude and probably going to live the longest, even with bad, bad disease. And those are patients who, they have gratitude in life."
In regards to seeing her affirmation on T-shirts as part of the Tickled Pink campaign, Phipps explained in a recent Instagram post, “Living with secondary breast cancer comes with so many challenges, but I strongly believe that 'you grow through what you go through.'”
“Living with an incurable disease has taught me so much. To let go of what you can't control. To focus on surrounding yourself with people who lift you up. To not be afraid to be yourself. Even if you're quite silly and weird. To seize every opportunity. And so much more,” she wrote.
Phipps, who describes herself on social media as ‘making the most of life‘ continued, “And I genuinely don't think I'd have learnt half of those life lessons without everything that I have been through these past four years. And I'm proud of the person that I am becoming. I'm way more resilient, positive and outgoing than I ever thought I could be. So the idea of people seeing that message, wearing it and embodying it makes me so happy. That through tough times, good things can come.”
Understanding Metastatic Breast Cancer
Mikki Phipps has proven that an advanced cancer diagnosis does not mean you stop living. Metastatic breast cancer also called "stage four" breast cancer means that the cancer has spread, or metastasized, beyond the breasts to other parts of the body. It most commonly spreads to the bones, liver and lungs, but it may also spread to the brain or other organs.
When Breast Cancer Spreads to the Bones
And while there is technically no cure for metastatic breast cancer, there is a wide variety of treatment options used to battle the disease including hormone therapy, chemotherapy, targeted drugs, immunotherapy and a combination of various treatments.
In a previous interview with SurvivorNet, Dr. Elizabeth Comen, an oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, explained how she tries to manage breast cancer when it has progressed to a later stage.
"With advanced disease, the goal of treatment is to keep you as stable as possible, slow the tumor growth and improve your quality of life," she said.
The American Cancer Society reports that there were more than 3.8 million U.S. women with a history of breast cancer alive at the start of 2019. Some of the women were cancer-free, and others still had evidence of the disease, but they also reported that more than 150,000 breast cancer survivors were living with metastatic disease, three-fourths of whom were originally diagnosed with stage I-III. And with ongoing advancements in treatments and options out there today that can dramatically reduce symptoms, there are many reasons to be hopeful.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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