When self-confessed ‘it girl’ Cat Holden felt a twinge in her shoulder, she assumed it was a simple sports injury and wouldn’t affect her lifestyle, and her doctors agreed.
She now faces having her entire left shoulder removed after doctors finally discovered the source of the 23-year-old’s pain was a bone tumor the size of an avocado.
Holden, an insurance assistant from Ingatestone, Essex, has gone from a “carefree” lifestyle of working in London and holidaying abroad to needing 24-hour care from his parents while he undergoes chemotherapy.
She said the cancer diagnosis was the “darkest day” of her life and that the treatment left her thinking “I look like an elf.”
“Having cancer was a really pivotal point in my life because everything was carefree and I was faced with something I never thought would happen,” she said.
When self-confessed ‘it girl’ Cat Holden felt a twinge in her shoulder, she assumed it was a simple sports injury and wouldn’t affect her lifestyle.
But she now faces having her entire left shoulder removed after doctors discovered the source of the 23-year-old’s pain was a bone tumor the size of an avocado.
After two months of treatment, he has lost his hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, in addition to developing tinnitus due to hearing impairment.
“It’s a devastating hearing; at 23, you’ll never have full function in your shoulder again.”
“When I was referred to Macmillan and told I would need six to nine months of chemotherapy, it was the darkest day of my life.”
Mrs Holden is also facing possible loss of fertility and has already developed a permanent hearing problem, tinnitus, as a result of ongoing chemotherapy.
He first noticed symptoms in March last year, while on a family holiday in Great Yarmouth, after his left shoulder began to hurt while rock climbing.
Although the pain continued after she fell from the wall, she dismissed it, thinking she had simply injured the muscle.
But five months later, the shoulder pain returned while swimming in Bracklesham Bay, West Sussex.
He said the pain became so intense that he could barely keep his head above water.
This prompted her to schedule an appointment with her primary care doctor to discover the possible cause.
She recalled: ‘The doctor said it looked very swollen.
“But they couldn’t see anything else on the ultrasound, so they diagnosed me with tendinitis.”
Tendonitis occurs when a tendon becomes inflamed and swollen after an injury.
The problem causes joint pain and can affect mobility.
Ms Holden suspected it was something else, possibly a tendon tear, but she followed instructions and also did some physiotherapy.
“They told me it was an easy solution: I just needed rest and ibuprofen,” he said.
“I also did some physiotherapy exercises on an app, once a week for six weeks.”
After completing physical therapy, he decided to travel to Sydney, Australia, for the “trip of a lifetime.”
But he noticed his shoulder pain returned after climbing the Sydney Bridge and skydiving.
However, not only was it back, it was worse, with the pain going from a simple ache to a throbbing pulse that kept her awake at night.
“It was very evident to me that something was really wrong,” he said.
‘I returned home from Australia in mid-November; It had no lumps or bumps.
‘But I couldn’t lift my left shoulder more than a right angle.
“I would stay awake every night and feel the pulse in my shoulder.”
Finally, Holden underwent an MRI with a private company in January of this year to hopefully discover the source of the problem.
Ms Holden is currently undergoing chemotherapy after tests revealed her tumour, which belongs to a class of growths that are usually benign, was cancerous.
He said that even traveling to the appointment he had no idea of the severity of what they would find.
‘It was fun. On the way to the appointment I told my mother, “I hope I don’t need any surgery or injections,” she said.
“We both just said it would have been really annoying.”
But after the scan and watching the consultant come into the room and shake his hand, he knew something was wrong.
“He said, ‘We’ve found something really unusual on your shoulder: a tumor,'” he said.
Further tests revealed that Mrs Holden had a malignant giant cell tumour.
These are rare and usually grow on the long bones of the arms and legs. It is estimated that only around 30 people in the UK are diagnosed with them each year.
While they are aggressive, capable of growing rapidly and damaging bone in the process, they are usually benign.
However, more rarely, and tragically for Ms Holden, they can be malignant, meaning they are cancerous and have the potential to spread to other parts of the body.
Given her case, Ms Holden was advised to immediately undergo six to nine months of chemotherapy treatment, which she did.
“They told me I could lose my hair, my hearing, and that my immune system was going to get so weak that I would be susceptible to things like sepsis,” she said.
Two months after her treatment, she lost her hair, eyebrows and eyelashes, and developed tinnitus, a hearing impairment.
“I don’t recognize myself in the mirror anymore; I used to have long blonde hair and I was a healthy girl,” she said.
‘I underestimated the physical and mental battle that people have to go through.
‘There are days when I think I look like an elf: I’m losing weight and I’m very pale.
She said the cancer diagnosis was the “darkest day” of her life and that the treatment left her thinking “I look like an elf.”
Ms Holden, an insurance assistant from Ingatestone, Essex, has gone from a “carefree” lifestyle of working in London and holidaying abroad to needing 24-hour care.
“Chemotherapy makes me feel like I’ve been hit by a bus: I have nausea, nausea, diarrhea, fatigue and the most horrible mouth sores.”
Holden has also been told that chemotherapy could harm her chances of becoming a mother in the future.
“I had a 40 to 60 percent chance of this affecting my fertility,” she said.
“I had my eggs frozen on March 27 – it was pretty heartbreaking.”
While chemotherapy still continues, another aspect of his cancer treatment comes into view.
On June 11, Ms Holden will undergo surgery to have her entire shoulder and humerus (upper arm) removed and replaced with a metal prosthesis.
This will leave her with lifelong mobility problems, such as not being able to lift her arm.
Holden said while the outlook was daunting, he was looking forward to the future.
“I’m going to carry the trauma of this with me forever, but I will appreciate life so much more after this,” he said.
Only half of patients with primary bone cancer are alive five years after their diagnosis, according to data from Cancer Research UK.