Tributes after death of "beautiful and brave" Doncaster breast cancer campaigner

Tributes have been paid to a Doncaster mum described as “beautiful” and “the bravest” following her death from breast cancer - a disease she fought to raise awareness of following her terminal diagnosis.

Laura McLoughlin, a mum of two, died last month following a six year battle with the disease.

She decided to go public with her story last year to urge others to get checked and also raised cash for breast cancer charity CoppaFeel.

Her funeral is due to take place later this month with mourners urged to wear pink in her memory.

Laura passed away on May 23 at the age of 39 and one pal said: “Our lives will be emptier without you.

“The bravest, strongest most inspirational woman I have had the privilege to call my friend.

“You fought til the end. I will love you forever. No longer in pain, sleep tight.”

Another described Laura as “beautiful” and added: “We are wanting to give Laura the best send off because she deserves nothing less.”

An obituary described her as “the dearly loved wife of Adam, dear mum of Liam and Lilie-Mae, also, the much loved daughter of Phil and Pam, sister of Adam and Philip and daughter-in-law of Sharon.”

The funeral will take place at All Saints' Parish Church, Harworth on June 19 at 1.30pm followed by a gathering at Harworth and Bircotes Sports Pavilion from 3pm.

Last year, Laura spoke candidly about her condition - revealing that a doctor had put pain in her breasts down to wearing wired bras and advised her to switch to wireless ones.

She started getting sharp pains in her right breast and noticed a large lump in April 2020 and contacted her GP who referred her to a hospital breast clinic.

She said when she went to her appointment at Bassetlaw Hospital in Worksop she was examined by a 'rushing' doctor who was approaching the end of his shift.

The mum-of-two claims she didn't have any scans and that the doctor said the issue was most likely hormonal and to swap wired bras for non-wired ones.

Laura returned to the clinic in August 2020 after her right nipple inverted and an ultrasound and mammogram revealed she had lobular breast cancer in her right breast.

Doctors scheduled Laura in for a double mastectomy to remove the 3.5-inch tumour but later discovered the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes and lower spine and was incurable.

Instead, Laura was given targeted therapy treatment and hadbeen taking medication since the diagnosis.

She said: "I was getting quite sharp pains through my right breast, which was unusual for me, I couldn't sleep on my front anymore.

"I left this for about a week and stupidly I didn't check myself, it's not something I was brought up to do.

"When I checked myself, I noticed I had quite a large swelling under my right breast.

"The GP couldn't see me in person because of lockdown but she referred me to the breast clinic and I had an appointment within a couple of weeks.

"They rang me around 11.15am and said if I want to see the doctor, I have to go to the hospital now because he finishes work at 12pm.

"He gave me a physical examination but gave me no scans or anything.

"It was the end of his work day, I was definitely rushed. He didn't give me the attention I needed.

"He told me it was most likely hormonal and to change my bras from wired bras to non-wired bras.

"I have no idea why he said that because wired bras don't cause any issues. There's no evidence to support that wired bras cause breast problems.

"I did change them because I believed him, I left the hospital feeling fine because he told me there was nothing to worry about."

But four months later, Laura noticed the pain hadn't subsided and her nipple inverted, so returned to her GP who, once again, referred her to the breast clinic.

Laura said: "The pain was still there. Whether it was because of my age I was dismissed, I was 33, I don't know.

"My nipple started to come inverted so I thought 'something is clearly not right here'.

"The GP gave me a physical examination and said she was quite shocked they didn't do any scans when I first went.

"She referred me to the breast clinic again and I was seen within a week and spoke to a different consultant.

"I was given all the scans, ultrasound, mammogram and they found a 9.3cm tumour.

"It was quite big to miss really. I was diagnosed with lobular breast cancer and I was booked in for chemo, radiotherapy and a double mastectomy.

"When I went back at the beginning of September, they said it had spread to lots of my lymph nodes, my lower spine so it was now stage four cancer.

"I didn't have the surgery because they said now it's incurable, the surgery would be a pointless operation. They needed to get me on medication sooner."

Describing her experience as 'draining', Laura said the hardest part was telling her children.

Laura said: "My kids were quite young at the time and from my whole diagnosis that was the hardest conversation to have [with them].

"[My advice is] if you notice anything unusual or different to what you're used to you need to get it checked out."