A woman has been left “unnecessarily traumatized” after being misdiagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer that forced her to undergo a grueling amount of treatments and surgery.
Sarah Boyle is still struggling to come to grips with the fact that because of a “human error,” she underwent an unnecessary double mastectomy and chemotherapy nearly three years ago, BBC News reported.
“Being told I had cancer was awful, but then to go through all of the treatment and surgery, to then be told it was unnecessary was traumatizing,” the Stoke-on-Trent, England native told the outlet.
The heartbreaking experience began at the end of 2016 when Boyle, then a 25-year-old mother of one, started having difficulty breastfeeding her son.
At the time, Boyle said she noticed her son, Teddy, then six months old, appearing “very distressed” as she attempted to feed him from her right breast, according to the BBC.
After going to Royal Stoke Hospital in England, Boyle underwent a biopsy and scan. Doctors then diagnosed her with triple-negative breast cancer and immediately sent her for chemotherapy treatment.
Boyle eventually underwent a double mastectomy and, later, reconstructive surgery, according to the outlet. She was also told that the aggressive cancer treatments could potentially harm her fertility.
However, it wasn’t until July 2017 that Boyle’s doctor told the mother of one she was misdiagnosed and did not actually have cancer, according to The Telegraph.
Boyle’s lawyers told the local newspaper that the mistake occurred because a biopsy sample had been incorrectly recorded.