I am fit and healthy but have just been diagnosed with stage four breast cancer at 43. I still feel 100 per cent but doctors gave me two years to live

Emma Johnson was fit, healthy, in love and the doting stepmum to two gorgeous boys.

The 43-year-old from Newcastle seemed to have the world at her feet, when her life was suddenly turned upside down. 

Despite doing ‘everything right’ with her health and diligently booking in for a mammogram every year since she turned 40, Emma was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer in January. 

Doctors told her she may only have two years to live; the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and liver.

The only symptom was a small yet hard lump on her breast in December that she immediately put down to a gym injury.  

How could it be more? She felt better than ever. No fatigue, no pain, nothing out of the ordinary. 

‘I got the lump examined at the doctor and they told me it was more likely just going to be a funny tissue,’ Emma, a hairdresser and the owner of Pony Hair Studio, told FEMAIL.

‘I couldn’t get in for an ultrasound and a mammogram for four weeks because everywhere was busy and it was Christmas, so I didn’t really worry about it.

‘The first week of January was the first time I could get an appointment. As soon as I’d done the ultrasound, a doctor came in and said that it was very hard and I should prepare for it being cancerous.’

Still in shock, Emma headed for a biopsy at 8am the next morning. 

The results came in the same day and she was told the shattering news. She had double-positive breast cancer… and it was aggressive.

‘At the start they told me it was stage two but that it was pretty much curable,’ Emma said.

‘At that point it was horrendous but I was assuming I’d have eight weeks of recovery after surgery and then be cancer-free.’

A week later Emma had an MRI and PET scan on her breast. Seven days later she returned to her stony-faced surgeon who delivered some more bad news. Small likely-cancerous spots had been found on her liver. 

‘I went in last Tuesday and the surgeon told me that if it was in the liver he wouldn’t be able to operate anymore… and that he was going to move me on to an oncologist,’ Emma said.

‘They told me they’re not sure “what path” we can take. They said there’s no surgery, there’s no chemo and that I’ll be given a hormone injection every 28 days and two pills to take a day.

‘Oh and they added that I’ve probably got about two years to live on them.

‘I’m so fit and healthy so it’s weird being told I have cancer. I feel normal, I don’t feel sick at all – it’s just crazy to hear I have two years left.’

The only option after that, it seemed, was an end of life plan. 

Desperate to find an alternative route, Emma spoke to a few women in Australia who have the same cancer and they reported great results from a clinic in Cancun, Mexico.

It’s very expensive, but the results have been promising. Emma is raising funds on MyCause for what she believes will be a life-saving trip.  

She believes it will, at the very least, give her more precious time to spend with her loving partner Matt and his two boys.  

‘I don’t know if this is 100 per cent going to fix me but somewhere in my gut, my heart, I just know that it’s the right path,’ Emma said.

‘I’m one of those people that if I put my mind to something, I feel like I can do it. My partner has taken this far worse than I have.

‘That said I have cried and I’ve gone down that “Oh my god. Why me? Why is this happening?” path. I’m fit. I go to gym every day. I’m healthy. I don’t eat rubbish. I did like a drink (I’ve completely stopped now) but I just would never have imagined in a million years that I’d sit there and someone would tell me I have stage four cancer.’

Emma is urging women to be diligent in checking their breasts; if she had left it much longer her prognosis would have been much worse. 

‘Everyone’s getting diagnosed so much younger with this so if you feel like you’ve got something, you’ve got to push and you’ve got to get your results, and you’ve got to be on it and say, “I’m not waiting a week or two weeks”,’ she said.

‘If I’d have left it or waited until the end of February for my next scan I could have been dead. 

‘I honestly didn’t think anything of it when I when I felt the lump so people just need to realise that cancer is more common now in younger people. Get the ultrasound, double check… triple check.’

Emma is also is still trying to get her head around how the cancer has been able to grow so fast. She only had a mammogram 12 months ago which came back completely clear.

In the meantime she is doing everything to stave off the growth of the cancer until she can get to Mexico. 

She’s on hormone blockers, adopted a plant-based keto diet and cut sugar, refined carbohydrates and alcohol and is trying to take care of her mental health. 

‘I feel very overwhelmed by everything. My head is spinning and I wake up thinking “oh my god, I’m going to die” sometimes but I’m trying to stay super positive,’ Emma said.

‘The generosity of people so far is giving me the strength I need to fight this, so from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

‘I have so much fight in me, and I promise that I am and will continue to do everything in my power to fight this b**** called cancer.

‘I know this is not my time.’