To anyone looking in from the outside, Cait Bransgrove appeared to have a picture-perfect life.
The fit and healthy Melbourne mother was raising three children with her husband while running a successful mortgage broking business.
That sense of normality was shattered when an unexpected email arrived in her work inbox—an event that ultimately led to a devastating stage three breast cancer diagnosis at just 30.
‘I was terrified,’ the mortgage broker told the Daily Mail.
‘There is really no perfect way to describe being 30 years old, having three little kids and suddenly being told you have stage three breast cancer.’
‘My mind immediately went to my children. I didn’t want them to grow up without their mum, and I didn’t want my husband to have to raise our babies without me.’
‘Everything that had seemed stressful or important before suddenly felt insignificant. I was also in disbelief because I felt completely fine. One minute I was living my normal life, and the next I was a cancer patient.’
The business owner, who ranks among the top one per cent of mortgage brokers in Victoria, said she had no reason to believe anything was seriously wrong. She regularly attended health checks and kept up with blood tests.
Cait Bransgrove was diagnosed with cancer at 30 after an unexpected email arrived at work
The mortgage broker said she initially had frightening thoughts about managing her business and family while undergoing treatment for stage three breast cancer
She had experienced no warning signs before randomly discovering a tiny lump in her breast at the beginning of August this year.
‘That was really it. I wasn’t sick, I had no symptoms, and I was “healthy”. I wasn’t unusually exhausted beyond what you would expect from having three children and running a business. I felt healthy,’ Cait said.
‘That is probably one of the most important things I want people to understand. You can feel completely well and still have something serious happening inside your body.’
Before her shock diagnosis, Cait described herself as fit, healthy and active. She was raising three young children while building her finance business.
No history or symptoms
Because she was only 30, Cait was not routinely offered breast screening. Mammograms were generally not recommended unless a woman was considered high risk because of her family history.
‘Breast cancer simply wasn’t something I thought I needed to worry about at 30,’ she said.
In Australia, routine screening mammograms are recommended every two years for women aged 50 to 74 who do not have breast cancer symptoms.
However, Cait began performing breast self-examinations after learning that one of her clients had been diagnosed with cancer.
The mother considered herself fit, healthy and active while raising three young children and growing her mortgage broking business
The business owner regularly attended health checks and had no reason to suspect anything seriously wrong
‘This is the crazy part of my story. A client of mine who I helped buy her first home a few years back reached out to me in January with an email that had the subject line saying “CANCER”,’ she recalled.
‘I called her immediately. We both cried, she had just been diagnosed at 35, was stressed about her mortgage and finances so I was helping her.
‘However, from that moment, it made me realise that cancer doesn’t discriminate just because of your age, and I started doing self assessments on my breasts.’
At the start of August, she randomly found a lump in her breast.
‘I could so easily have brushed it off,’ she said.
‘I’m young, I’d recently had a baby and there were plenty of innocent explanations I could have given myself for changes in my breasts.’
However, she knew she needed to see a doctor as a precaution.
‘I went and had imaging and then a biopsy. During the biopsy, the doctor looked at my mammogram and said, “It’s definitely cancer”,’ she recalled.
‘That was the first time someone had said those words so definitively to me.
‘My mum was with me and I walked out crying. When I got home, I remember pacing around my bedroom waiting for a moment to tell my husband Nick. When he came in, I just burst into tears and said, “The doctor said it’s cancer”.’
After feeling a tiny lump in her breast, she went to see a doctor as a precaution. A biopsy later confirmed her worst nightmare: breast cancer
She’s in her third round of chemotherapy in what will be ‘a long treatment journey’
The biopsy later confirmed her worst nightmare: breast cancer.
‘I genuinely didn’t think breast cancer was something I needed to worry about at 30,’ she explained.
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‘I was 30, fit and healthy and living a completely normal life when I found my lump.
‘Cancer doesn’t care how old you are, how busy you are, whether you exercise or whether you’ve got three little kids waiting for you at home.’
She’s in her third round of chemotherapy in what will be ‘a long treatment journey’.
‘My cancer is HER2-positive and hormone receptor-positive, so my treatment involves chemotherapy and targeted treatment, with surgery still ahead of me to have a double mastectomy,’ she said.
‘I’ll also require ongoing treatment after chemotherapy, so this isn’t something that will be over in a few months. We’re looking at roughly 12 months of active treatment overall, with treatment spanning the next five to 10 years. It sucks.’
‘Incredibly hard’
It’s only been a month since her diagnosis so she’s still in the early stages of treatment.
‘Chemotherapy has been incredibly hard on me physically. I have ended up in hospital multiple times now from side effects,’ Cait said.
‘One encouraging thing I’ve noticed is that the lump already feels much harder to find than it did before treatment.
‘Obviously how it feels isn’t the same as a scan or pathology result, so I’m not getting ahead of myself, but I’ll take every little positive sign I can get. Right now the focus is getting through treatment and giving it the best possible chance to work.’
‘I don’t think there is really a perfect way to describe being 30 years old, having three little kids and suddenly hearing that you have stage three breast cancer’
She said one of the hardest parts has been losing her ‘normal life so suddenly’
She said one of the hardest parts has been losing her ‘normal life so suddenly’.
‘I’m a really active person. I’m a mum who wants to be running around with my kids, I’m used to working, running my business, seeing people and doing a million things at once. Then suddenly there are days where getting off the couch feels like an achievement,’ Cait explained.
‘I try to remind myself that this period of my life is temporary and that I’m doing all of this so I can have many more years of the life I love.’
‘It’s scary not knowing my future’
As a mortgage broker, Cait said she had ‘scary thoughts’ about how she would manage her business and family while going through cancer after she was first diagnosed.
‘I help people buy houses, refinancing, conveyancing and wills (ironic), and it felt scary not knowing what that future now suddenly looked like,’ she said.
‘Meeting with clients, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to, however, we pivoted to an entirely new business service within 24 hours where everything could be done online without compromising on service, and business has remained the same.
‘I have been so grateful for my team, and the support from my community to ensure the business continues to thrive.
‘You know, it’s scary having a small business that supports a team of people, supports my family financially, and being scared about what was going to happen.’
She urges everyone to get checked, no matter how minor their symptoms seem.
She urges everyone to get checked, no matter how minor their symptoms seem
Cait with her friend Bruce, 76, who she met three years ago at a cafe. It was during a time when his wife had just died from cancer. Cait said one of the hardest calls she’d ever made was telling Bruce about her own cancer diagnosis. 15 minutes later, he was at her door in tears
‘For me it was a lump, but cancer doesn’t always present the same way,’ Cait said.
‘I’d encourage people to know what is normal for their own breasts and pay attention to any new lump, thickening, changes in the shape or size of the breast, nipple changes, discharge, skin dimpling or other changes that don’t feel normal for you.
‘Don’t dismiss’
‘And don’t dismiss something purely because you’re young. My biggest bit of advice though is if you are unsure, get checked. Getting checked saved my life. And also – breast cancer doesn’t just mean women, men can get it too.’
If she could go back in time, Cait said she would have checked her breasts more regularly and educated herself about cancer in younger people.
‘I can’t change what happened to me, but if sharing my story makes another person check themselves, book the doctor’s appointment they have been putting off or push for further investigation when something doesn’t feel right, then something positive can come from something pretty awful.’
She credits the client who reached out to her with saving her life.
‘My client – who’s now a very good friend and is currently cancer free – genuinely changed the course of my life,’ Cait said.
‘That’s why I’m sharing this so publicly now. If my story makes even one person stop scrolling, check their breasts and get something investigated, then sharing the really vulnerable parts of this journey is worth it.’
Cait said she wants everyone to know they should never assume they’re ‘too young, too healthy or too fit for something serious to happen’.
‘Know your body and advocate for yourself,’ she said.
‘And if you’re told it’s probably nothing but your gut is still telling you something isn’t right, keep asking questions.
‘I’d much rather someone feel silly for getting something harmless checked than ignore something that could save their life by being found earlier.’