Katie Price has shared worrying concerns that her leiomyosarcoma cancer will return after finding a lump in her finger, 23 years after her first diagnosis.
In 2002, the then 24-year-old revealed that she had been diagnosed with the rare form of cancer while pregnant with her son Harvey, 23.
Katie, 47, was told that she had leiomyosarcoma or LMS, which attacks the smooth muscle cells found in most parts of the body. It’s a rare cancer, and in its advanced stages, there is only a 50-50 chance of survival.
She was four months pregnant when a beautician noticed a small lump on the index finger of her left hand while giving her a manicure.
Sharing her fears on the The Katie Price Show’s latest episode, Katie said her recent symptoms have occurred in the same finger where she previously had cancer.
The mother-of-five said: ‘Another thing that’s really weird, you know when I had cancer years ago.
Katie Price, 47, has shared worrying concerns that her leiomyosarcoma cancer will return after finding a lump in her finger, 23 years after her first diagnosis
n 2002, the then 24-year-old revealed that she had been diagnosed with the rare form of cancer while pregnant with her son Harvey, 23 (pictured with Harvey and Princess in 2009)
‘For some who didn’t know, when I was pregnant with Harvey I got cancer, called leiomyosarcoma. If you look at my finger, there is like a hole there and a scar there, I had it cut out twice. Can you see that dent? It never hurt.
‘But a lump started coming up and I thought I had been riding and done something to my finger.
‘But anyway cut the long story short it was leiomyosarcoma so I had to have MRI scans and all of that for six years until I was clear.’
She added: ‘The same finger here, up here, this is about three weeks ago, I thought, have I knocked it? Because it hurts when I push it but there’s no lump.
‘And it (the pain) still hasn’t gone. So I’m going to get that X-rayed and looked at so I hope it’s not that again.
‘This better not be my bad news, and get bad results, because all this is happening, and then normally in my life something good happens and then something bad happens. Let’s hope it’s nothing bad.’
At the time of her first cancer diagnosis, Katie saw an alternative medic who assured her it was nothing to worry about, after she was unable to see her regular GP as they were on holiday.
However, she noticed the lump kept increasing in size, prompting her to seek another opinion.
Sharing her fears on the The Katie Price Show ‘s latest episode, Katie said her recent symptoms have occurred in the same finger where she previously had cancer
At the time, she said: ‘I kept a close eye on this lump and over the months it was getting bigger and bigger.
‘I was starting to get worried so I went back to the surgery on two more occasions but never managed to see my regular GP. Each time I was told the same thing, “It’s nothing to worry about but keep an eye on it”.
‘When it still continued to grow I returned for a fourth time and thankfully was able to see my own GP. He took one look at the lump and immediately expressed concern.’
She was referred to a specialist in Hove, East Sussex, but she had to wait until she had given birth before tests could be carried out.
Shortly after giving birth to Harvey, a biopsy was performed at Nuffield Hospital in Brighton.
‘From that point on I thought nothing more about it. The lump was gone and so, I hoped, was the problem,’ she said.
But when she was asked to return to the hospital to see the consultant a few weeks later, her heart dropped.
Doctors believe the pregnancy may have accelerated the signs of the cancer, which may otherwise have lain dormant in her body.
‘The doctor sat me down immediately. I could tell from his face that something wasn’t right,’ she said.
‘Then he came right out with it. He said, “I’ve got bad news, it’s cancer”.
‘I almost laughed but just sat staring at him as he went into a more detailed explanation of what they’d found.
‘When he stopped I asked if the cancer could have been the cause of Harvey’s blindness. He said absolutely not.’
Doctors told her it was ‘almost certain’ another lump will return and she will need further treatment in the future.
Katie also shared on the podcast she has had her bloods done because she suffers with low platelets – which she thinks explains her dramatic weight loss
‘I just sat there nodding, not taking it in at all,’ she said. ‘I couldn’t feel anything. Couldn’t think anything. Couldn’t even cry.’
Katie also shared on the podcast she has had her bloods done because she suffers with low platelets – which she thinks explains her dramatic weight loss.
She added: ‘I’ve had my bloods done, and I’ve got really really low platelets and I thought that was (low) iron, and it’s not.
‘And that could be a reason why maybe I’ve got thinner. I’m tired, no energy. They [the doctors] said it can affect that and I think you might have to have a blood transfusion to get them [the platelets] back up again.
‘So I’ve got to go back and have my bloods done again.’