When she was 34 weeks pregnant, she was diagnosed with a plugged milk duct: it was stage 4 breast cancer.

Lindsey Gritton, a 29-year-old mom we got in touch with, allowed us to share her story to warn other moms about how important it is to trust yourself when you feel like something isn’t right.

While 34 weeks pregnant with her second daughter, in April, she began to notice a burning sensation in her right armpit and outer right breast. The pain came and went, until a week later she noticed a lump the size of a small marble.

She went to her gynecologist, who diagnosed her with a blocked milk duct causing mastitis, an inflammation of the breast tissue that is very common in late pregnancy and postpartum.

Antibiotics were prescribed, but she did not remain calm . She had already had a plugged duct in her first pregnancy, but this time it was different.

“In the back of my head, I knew it wasn’t that,” Lindsey told Insider, the first outlet to tell her story.

He asked for tests

Although they told her it was too young for it to be cancer, she had to insist until she got an ultrasound, because she was really very worried. As it was being done, he could see in the ultrasound technician’s face that something was wrong, and he wasn’t wrong.

The results indicated a high probability of cancer, and a week later a biopsy confirmed that he had invasive ductal carcinoma . They also told her that the cancer was most likely widespread due to the size of the tumor, but they could not perform a CT scan while she was pregnant because of the risk of exposing the baby to radiation.

They had to induce labor three weeks before

A week later, her labor was induced, three weeks ahead of schedule, and the scan confirmed that she had stage 4 cancer, an advanced or metastatic cancer that had spread to her liver . Two weeks later, chemotherapy treatment began.

He has been receiving chemotherapy every three weeks for four months and is optimistic about his condition. His most recent scans show that 80 percent of the cancer is gone , he said.

The proportion of women under the age of 35 who are diagnosed with breast cancer is very small, just two percent, but when it is detected, it is often at an advanced stage and more difficult to treat.

“If I hadn’t stood up for myself, I don’t even think I’d be here today. Because from what they told me with my blood test, my liver was already failing,” he said.

Young women should also get regular breast cancer screening, especially when they’re pregnant, she said.

We thank Lindsey for allowing us to share her story and send her our full support as she gets through this tough time.