I GOT SECOND TUMOUR WITH IMPLANT

IN 2012, Rachael Ferguson was declared cancer-free following two years of aggressive treatment for stage three breast cancer, including the removal of her left breast.

Within a year, she had undergone a reconstruction, with a textured silicone breast implant. ‘I was so happy with the results – the NHS surgeons did a great job,’ says the 58-year-old, right, from Bathgate, West Lothian.

Yet just five years later, her oncologist delivered a new life-shattering blow.

Rachael says: ‘My breast was increasingly firm and red so my oncologist replaced the implant, but the pain continued and something didn’t feel right. Tests revealed tumours in the tissue around the left breast and I was told it was caused by my original implant.’

Neither Rachael nor her oncologist had ever heard of BIA-ALCL.

‘I wasn’t warned about the risks back in 2013 because no one knew much about it,’ she says. ‘But had I known, I would never have chosen a reconstruction.’

Thankfully, Rachael’s condition was detected early and hadn’t spread. It was curable with the removal of the implant and the tissue where her left breast would have been. She says: ‘The thought that I had done something to make me ill again was horrible. I lost 2st in two months because I was sick with worry. I felt like I was back to square one.’

Rachael has been left with a ‘sagging pouch’ on her chest and attends screenings every three months. Despite the trauma, she doesn’t blame the NHS surgeon for neglecting to tell her the risks. She says: ‘The implant companies should pay for what they’ve done to us.’