New mum, 28, battling Covid and sepsis discovers she’s got cancer too weeks after birth
A NEW mum battled Covid and sepsis as she gave birth, before being told she also had breast cancer.
Keisha Chadwick, 28, was stunned to be diagnosed after finding a lump while pregnant, which got bigger after she gave birth.
She assumed it was something to do with being pregnant, with a doctor also thinking that was likely.
But she was scheduled for a scan to check, with a biopsy to follow to make sure.
The young woman then had to wait a few weeks to get the results, but hadn't been given any reason to worry.
She told the Manchester Evening News: "I was just getting on with my life - I was so convinced it was something to do with milk."
Keisha had already suffered through Covid while in labour with baby Milana, and also had sepsis.
She had tested negative before going into hospital but then started to feel unwell and was confirmed to have the virus.
Most read in Health
The new mum had to go into isolation with her baby, leaving her terrified she'd pass it on.
The 28-year-old said: "It was supposed to be the happiest moment of my life. I had no one with me. No visitors. No one around to help me with my baby.
"And then when I got home I found out that I had cancer.
"I didn't believe it at first. I never even considered that it could be cancer. I wasn't prepared to hear bad news because I was so adamant that it wasn't."
She now has to put her final year of nursing placement on hold, as it will clash with the chemo treatment.
Keisha also won't be able to graduate this year or start the job she had lined up on a vascular ward.
She is having her eggs frozen before the treatment, with the hope she will be able to have more kids in the future.
Sepsis is always triggered by an infection.
It is not contagious and cannot be passed from person to person.
Most often the culprit is an infection we all recognise - pneumonia, urinary infections (UTIs), skin infections, including cellulitis, and infections in the stomach, for example appendicitis.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Covid can present in over 20 symptoms now, experts think.
If you have cold like symptoms, a headache or a sore throat, even without the classic three of a fever, cough or loss of taste or smell, you should get tested.