When a woman is close to the end of her pregnancy, her body prepares for a new life. Some women’s breasts begin to make colostrum, the first milk the body produces for feeding. A West Australian teacher was at the end of her third trimester with her third child when she noticed her colostrum coming in, but the milk had an unusual color.
Kate Grainger, 31, saw that the colostrum had a strange pink tinge instead of the usual creamy color. According to the New York Post, Grainger told 7 News Life she explained the milk’s color to her doctor, who immediately referred her to a specialist for an ultrasound of her breast. The exam uncovered a walnut-sized mass, and the following diagnosis rocked her family’s world.
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At 37 weeks pregnant, Grainger had cancer.
In addition to the mass, the initial imaging showed a swollen lymph node and dilated ducts throughout her breast. She underwent additional scans and biopsies to check for problems.
She was diagnosed with a rare grade three triple-negative breast cancer in just two weeks. This type of cancer does not present with any of the three receptors commonly found on breast cancer cells.
She told News 7 Life the diagnosis was devastating to her and her husband, Joel, and she felt she needed to be sedated to deal with the shock.
Grainger shared the news to spread awareness.
Family and friends knew she was expecting and near the end of her pregnancy when she shared what she called a “life update” on Facebook. She explained that a normally peaceful time leading up to the birth of her baby had changed dramatically.
“Yesterday afternoon I was diagnosed with breast cancer, it has spread to at least one lymph node, which has shown to be extremely aggressive. We are meeting with the specialist team tomorrow to learn more and come up with a plan to get bub here safely and to find out the full extent as to what is happening right now,” she wrote.
Grainger gave birth to son Heath two days later.
Chemotherapy has begun and a mastectomy will follow.
The Post reported that just weeks after giving birth via C-section, Grainger began a 12-week chemotherapy cycle. She will also undergo a double mastectomy. A GoFundMe account established by a friend explains that Grainger also had genetic testing performed to “help explain how and why this cancer has come about and can hopefully give some answers.”
Only time will tell what other treatment the mother of three under four will have to undergo.
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The family continues to share their journey.
Grainger shared photos of her family in early March that showed a tearful yet joyful mother with her children. On March 7, she posted pics of her donating her long blonde hair to make wigs for patients suffering from diseases such as cancer and alopecia.
She said husband Joel was holding her hand the whole way. After the series of images, Grainger shared a message for all women. “Keep checking those boobs and kissing your babies,” she wrote.
Breast cancer is common and can be deadly.
The Breast Cancer Research Foundation reported that in 2020 alone, 2.3 million women worldwide were diagnosed with breast cancer; sadly, 685,000 died. A woman is diagnosed with breast cancer every 14 seconds. In both developed and underdeveloped countries, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women, and in 2012 it represented 12% of all new cancer diagnoses and 25% of new diagnoses in women, the foundation notes.
There is hope for women with breast cancer. In the United States, mortality rates have shrunk in the last 50 years.
“Since 1975, the breast cancer five-year relative survival rate has increased significantly for both black and white women. While a substantial gap remains, especially for late-stage diagnoses, the racial disparity seems to be narrowing. In the most recent period, the five-year relative survival rate was 83 percent for black women and 92 percent for white women,” the foundation reports.
